Fate Can Kill
by Oomaki-chan
Summary: They're having a baby! But Natsu's on his own? What will happen to the poor child? And what happened to Lucy? You never quite realize how much something that stated out so happy, can become so tragic.
1. My Little Girl

**Nine months ago**

"_Lucy? What's wrong?"_

_Don't be surprised when I say this Natsu…..but I'm pregnant."_

"_What?"_

"_If it helps it's yours."_

"…_.I don't know Luce. Do you really want to have a baby?"_

"_Well I just know I couldn't give it up."_

"_Then don't worry! I'll be there the whole time!"_

**4 months ago**

"_Natsu! We're having a girl!"_

"_Really!"_

"_Yep. I can't wait to see her."_

"_What do you want to name her?"_

"_Can we name her after my mother? Also I was thinking maybe give her the name of that Edolas Lucy. You know, Ashley?"_

"_Of course."_

**Six months ago**

"_I'm sorry . But with the baby resting upside down your gonna have to do as little movement as possible in order to avoid a bigger issue."_

"_Don't worry Luce. I'll take good care of both you and our baby."_

"_Thank you Natsu."_

**Two hours ago**

"_It hurts!"_

"_Don't worry. I'm right here. Just hold on."_

"_AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!"_

"_Waaaaaanh! Waaaaanh!"_

"_You did it Luce. She's beautiful."_

**One hour ago**

"_Layla Ashley Dragoneel. You sure gave birth to one beautiful girl Lucy."_

"_Thanks. But you helped too."_

"_You're right. She probably got it from me."_

"_Nice try. But she's blonde."_

"_I can never win with you. Can I?"_

"_Afraid not love."_

"_You're tired. Let me take her."_

"_Ok. Thanks."_

**30 minutes ago**

"_Come on you jack ass. Hurry up and set up the dynamite."_

"_Shut up shit head. I'm working on it."_

"_Crap I lit it."_

"_What! Well let's get out of here!"_

**10 minutes ago**

"_Luce! Lucy! Where are you?"_

"_Sir you need to calm down."_

"_Don't tell me to calm down! My Lucy's might still be in there! Someone has to find here!" _

"_Sir. You have your baby is safe. I suggest you take your child and get out safely while we put out the fire."_

"_Natsu come on. We need to get out of here."_

"_Shut the hell up stripper!"_

"_Natsu! Gray grab his arm!"_

"_Got it Erza."_

"_No! Let me go! I have to find Luce! Someone help me! Help my Luce!_

**Now**

"Has Natsu calmed down yet Lisanna?" Erza asked.

Lisanna shook her head. "He's still crying. He won't let anyone touch the baby. He's just sitting in the corner. I promised him I'd tell everyone to give him space."

"I'll make sure everyone knows." Erza said before leaving.

Lisanna looked at Natsu as he held his child and cried.

"You're one hell of a child." He muttered. "But you're also very special. You're the daughter of a dragon slayer, and the best celestial mage this world has ever seen. At first we named you Layla Ashley Dragoneel. But you're getting a new name. Layla Ashley Lucy Dragoneel." Natsu sobbed more as he said his loves name. "And you will be the best mage in the world."

"Natsu." Wendy said quietly as she walked up. "Lisanna asked me to bring you this." She handed the pink haired boy a baby bottle filled with warn milk."

"Thank you Wendy." Natsu said as he took the bottle and held it for the baby to drink. The little one gladly accepted it and began to drink.

"Please come back to the group Natsu." Wendy pleaded. "Everyone's worried. No one want to see you like this all alone. You can cry, but please do it with us."

"I don't know. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to be around people yet."

"Hurry up and get over here Pinky!" Gray called from all the way across the guild. Natsu jolted his head up. Looking around at all the friends looking at his with semi-sad semi-happy looks. "You haven't introduced us to that new member yu brought!"

Natsu realized what he was saying and whipped his eyes. He got up and walked over to join everyone. "Guys, this is Layla Ashley Lucy Dragoneel. And she is the newest and soon to be best mage in Fairy Tail history." Everyone looked at the sad dragon slayer.

"Well of course she is!" Levy yelled out of the silence. "And we're all gonna make sure she gets there."

"Sounds good to me!"

"What kind of mage do you think she'll be?"

"If I know Natsu no matter what she'll be a kick butt one."

Natsu listened to all of the comments, and looked around at all of his friends. Then he fell, kneeling to the floor. Holding tightly onto Layla. Crying. Everything grew silent. "Thank you." He managed to mutter out. "Thank you."


	2. Fairy Tail Love

**3 months later**

"Natsu will you please take your baby already!" Gray yelled at the pink hair boy.

"Sorry Gray. I can't Use the bathroom while holding her." The boy apologized and took his little girl from the ice mage.

"Oh yeah…..Sure" Gray was still uncertain about his friend. He was still hurt and everyone knew that. But he definitely wasn't turning back to his old self. He hadn't even though about going on missions since Layla was born. Gray understood that he couldn't go with Layla to take care of. But he expected the mage to at least want to go on one. And the weirdest part was that Natsu didn't even want to think of fighting. He tried to stop any fights that started, and wouldn't start any of his own. If I fight did start up in the guild Natsu would take Layla outside and they would wait for someone to tell them it was over.

Suddenly the baby started crying. Everyone turned to look. "Oh what's wrong girl?" Natsu asked in a calm voice. "Are you hungry? Is that it? Come on. Let's go get you some milk." Natsu walked over to the bar. By the time he got there Mirajanne already had a bottle ready. "Thanks." Natsu took it and gave it to Layla.

"No problem. We're all helping out and this is just a way I can help too." Mirajanne explained with a smile.

After the baby was fed Natsu put her in the crib the guild had gotten. They had all pitched in and made it. Gajeel made a nice iron nuts, bolts, and screws, Elfman and gray went out and got nicely chopped wood. And while they were putting that together the girls, Lisanna, Erza, Juvia, Mirajanne, Kana, Levy, and Wendy, made blankets, quilts, sheets, ect. Wendy even made an adorable stuffed cat with winds, to match all the dragon slayers cats, but this one was a light green and had a small tee-shirt with the Fairy Tail symbol.

Natsu always smiled at the little blonde baby as she slept under those blankets. She always had the cutest face. Just like Lucy did. Natsu suddenly remembered the one night when it had been raining really hard and Lucy had gotten sick. He spent the whole night taking care of her. But at night just covering her in blankets wasn't enough so he had to climb in with her. He hugged her all night, using his high body heat to keep her warm.

Remembering Lucy's smile made tears start to well up in his eyes. No one had heard anything from her this whole time. No one found her body after that horrifying blast at the hospital. No one was ready to say she was dead yet though. Lisanna had come back so everyone thought that maybe Lucy would too.

Every time the front door opened Natsu would always look just to make sure it wasn't her. The whole guild knew about this habit, but no one dared to mention it. And as the days went on Natsu slowly started to get his color back. Little by little he was smiling more and more.

Natsu let everyone in the guild play with Layla. But he was usually there when they did. Everyone was trying to see if they could get her to talk. A lot of people want their names to be said first. But some people just wanted her to say something memorable. Like Gajeel wanted her to say 'freak show', and Kana wanted her to say 'liquor'. It always made Natsu happy to see everyone make Layla giggle in this cute little way.

As Layla got older, even by a couple of days, everyone saw the changes. Levy was collecting pictures of her to make a huge scrapbook. It was open for all to add to, they just had to give what they wanted added to Levy, and kept in a very safe place that only Levy could access.

But Layla kept growing no matter what. Her hair grew out. It reminded everyone of Lucy's blond hair. And she even had her mother's big brown eyes. No one wanted to say it till Natsu was feeling at least 70% better, but Layla was growing to be the spitting image of Lucy, like Lucy had been with her own mother.

"Hello there Layla." Natsu said sweetly as he picked her up from her nap. He laughed as he saw her rub her eyes and look up smiling. It had been 6 months since she was born and everything was going by fairly fast. "You smell kind of stinky. Let's go get you changed." He grabbed a clean diaper and some wipes from a bag hanging on the crib and went over to the closest table. He changed her as fast as possible.

People were always surprised when they saw how good at changing diapers Natsu was. But their glorification faded every time. Cause Natsu would finish then launch the old dirty diaper at Gray. He usually met his mark too. Then Gray would try to chase Natsu and shoot him with some ice. But Natsu would hold Layla knowing she was the best defense he had. Gray would give up after seeing the child and then go back to whatever.

"Hey Natsu." Wendy said.

"Oh hey Wendy. Have you been out on a mission?" Natsu asked.

"Yep. Just got back." The air type mage smiled.

"How did it go?"

"Great!"

"Awesome." Natsu tried to say while Layla was playing around with his face. Fascinated with his nose the most.

"Cute." Wendy muttered. "So has she said her first word yet?"

"Nope. But I can't wait till she does." Natsu said, changing his hold on the young girl.

"How about we see if we can get her to say something now?" Erza butted in from behind.

Natsu shrugged. "Sure." They walked over to a table and sat down. Placing Layla on the table, facing Natsu. Suddenly a large group of people came around. Quiet. "What should we get her to say?" Natsu asked the crowd.

"What about 'Daddy'?" Lisanna asked.

"To normal." Erza commented. "Why not just Natsu?"

"But we don't want her calling her dad that." Gray protested.

"What about 'Gajeel is awesome'?"

"There is no way I'm letting my child ever say that!" Natsu yelled. "Gray can you punch him for me?"

"I would love to, but not in this tight a crowd." The ice mage said.

"Well then get out of it." Natsu stated. "If you'd love to the do it."

"Will you guys stop fighting?" Mirajanne demanded. "We're trying to get the youngest child in Fairy Tail to say her first word and you guys are just blabbing."

"Um Sis, there aren't any kids in Fairy Tail." Lisanna put in.

"Guys! Wendy is part of Fairy Tail too you know!" Charle yelled.

"Fafff…." Layla giggled.

"Everyone shut it!" Natsu screamed. Everyone went quiet. "And back up too." With the newly given space Natsu went back to focusing on the baby. "What are you trying to say sweety?"

"Fafffrrr." Layla murmured.

"Come on." Natsu's voice went into more of a baby talk, getting some laughs from the guild.

"Faffrrrwwy."

"What now?"

"Fafry. Faawy." Layla giggled again. "Faiwry!" There was a sudden silence. "Faiwry Faiwry!" Layla cheered.

"I don't speak, but that child definitely said 'fairy'." Gray stated.

"Alright!" Natsu yelled picking up Layla and jumping into the air. "That's my girl." He cheered. "Can you say Fairy?"

"Faiwry!" Layla was smiling the biggest smile they had ever seen on her. And Natsu's was just as big. Everyone started talking about it.

"Now that's a Fairy Tail kid if I've ever seen one." Makarov said coming out of nowhere.

"Now can you saw Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked Layla, too excited to even hear what the master had said.

"Faiwry Taaaawl." Layla cheered. Natsu smiled, showing her she was right. "Faiwry Taawl! Faiwry Taaiwl!"

By the time all of the cheer and excitement had died down Layla was asleep in her crib and Natsu was sleeping on the table next to it. There was a little drool dripping out of the corner of his mouth, and he had a huge grin on his face. Levy and Lisanna came over to him with a blanket and Put it over his shoulders. Then Levy checked Layla's blankets.

"Well I know one way you can tell she's his. They both drool." Levy laughed.

Lisanna smiled too. "I can't wait to see her grown up. I sure hope everything will turn out well."

"Me too."

"Lu-" Natsu murmured in his sleep. Levy and Lisanna listened in. "Luce…miss you…come home." Natsu turned his head over.

Levy and Lisanna exchanged glances. Tears welling up in their eyes. They agreed not to say anything about what he had said, even though they never even said anything to each other.

"Be strong Natsu." Lisanna whispered into the dragon slayers ear before walking away.


	3. Happy Birthday

"Hurry up with those streamers Gray!" Levy called.

"Give me a sec." Gray carried a big box full of colorful streamers over to the blue haired girl. "Could you at least come down from that latter to get them?"

"Give them to Juvia." The water mage said shyly. Gray handed her the box and watched the two begin to put them up before running to help Gajeel.

"Hey there sis." Lisanna cheered as she approached her older sister. "How are you doing with the banner?"

"Ok I guess. But I can't seem to get it centered." The older white haired girl looked up at Happy and Charle who were holding a big banner. "A little more to the left Happy. Charle up some more!"

"Aye sir!" The cats said in unison.

"Up a little more Charle!" The mage called. She help up her hands, making a rectangle with her fingers. Then she looked through them, trying to see if it was level. "PERFECT!" Put the hooks right there Pantherlily!"

"Got it." The black cat flew up and marked the points with marker before going into his larger form. He pushed two iron hooks into the wall where he had made the points. Mirajanne stepped back to admire it after the flying cats made sure that it was resting nicely.

"Natsu's coming!" Wendy suddenly burst in through the guild doors. "Everyone hide!"

With a sudden flash the guild seemed quiet and empty. The door opened a bit and Natsu came in, holding Layla in one arm. He had his back to the guild as he entered.

"Hey guys! Are there any clean diapers here? We're out at my place and I really don't want to go back to the store." Natsu turned around, and as if on cue, everyone burst out of their hiding places.

"Surprise! Happy first birthday Layla!"

Natsu looked around at the guild in shock. Then his open jaw turned into a large grin. "Oh my god. You guys rock!"

As he said this Lisanna and Mirajanne came up to him and pulled him off to a different room. The room was set up as a changing station. There was a table with a mat on it in the center. To the side was a box of fresh diapers and a trash can for dirty ones. There was a couch in the back just in case. And a set of drawers with clean clothes inside. Natsu quickly grabbed a clean diaper and laid Layla on the table. He took of the footie pajama's she was wearing and put them to the side. He then pulled on the dirty diaper and tossed it into the trash. After whipping her clean he put the new one on and reached for her pajamas. His and was quickly swatted away by Mirajanne.

"You can't have her be in that on her birthday." She said. Then she handed him a pile of clothes, all neatly folded. "Put her in this!" Natsu put the pile on the table. He was about t turn around and thank her be the two girls that had been in the room earlier ran out of the room.

Natsu shrugged and turned to the pile of clothes. He pulled the pile apart and smiled. "Well look at this Layla." He said cutely. "Brand new clothes! Wanna put them on?"

"Yeth." Layla said with a smile. She kicked her feet in the rain and reached for them with her hands. Trying to grab each toe at the same time. Natsu laughed as he put the new clothing on her, struggling to hold her legs down. When he was done he picked her up and held her out in front of him.

She was wearing a crimson spaghetti strap dress with a white tee shirt under it. The dress cut off right above her knees. Then there were her long white socks that went half way up her shin and black converse. She had a small black bow in her blonde hair that was starting to get past her ears.

Natsu smiled and gave her a hug. "You're beautiful sweet heart. Now come on. Your party awaits."

In the guild mages were laughing and enjoying themselves. The bar was open for drinks and there was a huge table filled with food in the middle. Natsu couldn't help but look at the large pile of presents stacking up in one of the corners. People everywhere were coming up and whishing Layla a happy birthday, and congratulating Natsu on making it through a year.

"No really! What's it like!" Erza asked Natsu.

"Why do you want to know?" The fire mage yelled.

"I think I might want to try it. But you're the only person I know who knows what it's like." Erza replied.

"I doubt you would find it fun." Natsu mumbled.

"Why won't you just tell me?"

"Cause it's not like you can do it! I mean really! Think about it!"

"He's got a point." Gray butted in. "I probably wouldn't work for you."

"How do you know?" Erza glared at the ice mage. Then she thought about it. "What if you were there with me?"

"Wha-what!" Gray chocked on his drink. "Look I'm not helping you with this!"

"Why not?"

"Cause it's just weird!" Gray screamed.

"Erza just calm down." Lisanna joined in. "I don't see why you want to eat fire anyways."

"I just want to try it." Erza mumbled.

"Haha! Sorry Erza." Natsu grinned. "That just won't work for you."

"Fine." She grumbled. "But what does it taste like?"

Ever one let out a sigh. Layla played around on Natsu's lap. She had her stuffed cat in her arms. It was almost as big as she was. She wrestled around with it. Pulling on the ears with her mouth. Everyone looked at her and laughed.

"Excuse me every one. Attention please." The guild master called out from the stage. Once it was quiet and the attention was on him. "Alright. So if you don't know why we are having this party then you're either really drunk or you have a mental issue. Either way GET OUT!" There were a couple of laughs around the big hall. "So yes. Happy Birthday to Layla, our youngest member." Cheers of 'happy birthday' and 'way to go Natsu' filled the hall. "QUIET! Like I was trying to say before, Natsu get up here and make a speech."

A little shocked, Natsu walked up to the stage holding Layla. He went up to the microphone stand in the center and looked at the crowd of people. "Um. Well. Thanks for all this. It means a lot." He took a look around at the guild. Streamers and balloons were everywhere. Banners by the doors and above the stage all said happy birthday. Layla started squiring in his arms, which got a huge 'aaaawwwww' from the guild. "Layla's really happy and excited too." He chuckled. "It's been a year. And you guys have been great. I'm happy that you guys have been here for us. And I'm sure…..I'm sure…." Tears started welling up in his eyes. He whipped them before continuing. "I'm sure Lucy would have been really happy too. Thanks guys. Really." Natsu scanned over the crowd. Everyone looked a little sad at the mention of the missing mages name. "Well then!" Natsu yelled. "Let's keep this party going!" The guild let out a cheer before natsu stepped away.

Natsu heard something about karaoke as he headed to the bar. Mirajanne was there handing out drinks. The fire mage sat down and put Layla in his lap. "One juice and one beer Mira."

"Who's the beer for?" She kidded.

"Well I'm not quite sure Layla's old enough for that." Natsu laughed.

"Nonsense. You're never too young to learn how to drink." Kana said. "One more, and make it a big one."

"Maybe you think so. But I don't want her becoming a lazy drunk." The pink haired boy stated. He was about to continue when an arm slung over his shoulder. He looked to his left to see Gray.

"Let be barrow Layla." Gray said.

"What? Why the hell should I let you do that?" Natsu Jumped out of his chair.

"Cause there are some hot girls over there and walking around with her would make me look cooler." The ice mage explained.

"No way in hell stripper." Natsu held Layla closer as he picked up their drinks and began to walk away.

"Wait up!" Gray ran after him. "Think about it! She would get the chance to see a lot more people."

"A lot of people come to me just to see her so she's fine."

"Please Natsu! Come on."

Natsu threw his cup of beer at the ice mage. The cup hit him in the head, but the liquid spilled all over him. Mostly on his head. Gray looked at his chest then brushed his hair, which was now getting sticky, out of his eyes. There was a moment of silence between them. Then Natsu started laughing his head off.

"You look like an idiot!" The pink haired boy yelled. He laughed like mad.

"You bastard!" Gray screamed. "You better run. Cause I'm not going easy here!"

"Whoops." Natsu said as he slipped away. He broke into a run as soon as possible, which proved to be hard while holding a baby. Gray charged after him. As they were running Natsu stopped suddenly at a table. "Hey Levy. Here. Take Layla for a bit." He handed the baby to the blue haired girl. He turned to see Gray getting closer by the second. "Gotta run. Take care of her!" He called as he ran off.

The two ran round in laps for 20 minutes. Dodging party goers and tables. They ran onto the stage a couple of times, disturbing the performances some of the members were giving. They didn't stop until Erza grabbed each of them by the backs of their shirts. They grumbled on the floor until Lisanna announced that the cake was coming out.

Levy gave Layla back. Apparently the little girl had a fun time visiting with a lot of people cause Levy suddenly had people asking where the baby was. Natsu was pulled to a table by Wendy. She and Charle had made a little seat of honor for Layla. There was a pink high chair at the head of the table. It was surrounded by balloons. Once Layla was seated Elfman brought out a large cake and set it in front of Layla. It was a large Chocolate cake with a blue Fairy Tail symbol in the center and the words "Happy First Birthday Layla" printed in pink. Everyone in the guild started singing some messed up version of the happy birthday song, but no one was on time or on key so it sounded pretty bad.

Layla got the first slice, which was a small little piece no bigger than the bow on her head. Natsu fed it too her as he ate his own piece. Slices were passed around and everyone dug in. People slowly started t peel away from the mass and find their own tables. Natsu decided to stay where he was because it looked like Wendy and Charle had gone through so much trouble to set up that spot for Layla. Happy sat on the table and talked with Natsu. The boy was glad with that because he had hardly gotten to see the cat with the party going on. Layla had found a fascination with Happy's tail and tried to grab it every time it went by her face.

Once the cake was gone everyone headed to the pile of presents. Natsu sat on the floor with Layla in his lap. Levy, Lisanna, Erza, Gray, and Wendy were the people who sat next to him. They all sat in a circle so Layla could crawl around without getting away. Gajeel got stuck giving Natsu the presents. There were some nice gifts. There were a couple books, dresses, and dolls. Some of the toys seemed like they would be fun to play with, while some looked a little too flashy. Layla sat in the middle of the circle looking around at all of the new toys that she was given. Everyone laughed as she tried to crawl around them and over them.

While Natsu opened some of the presents he realized that some people really cared. One person had given them a training toilet and a nice winter jacket. Then Natsu opened one box and inside it was charm bracelet. He picked it up and looked it over. It was a thick silver chain with several charms on it already. There was a green Fairy Tail sign, a blue cat, a pink heart, and purple ribbon. In the center of the chain there was a golden key and copper flame. Natsu looked around and asked who it was from. But no one knew.

"That's from me." Said a voice from the door. The crowd turned around and saw Loke standing in the door way. "Well sort of."

"Loke!" Natsu jumped up and ran to the spirit. "You're here! Does that mean Luce is with you too? Is she outside?" The pink haired boy looked around Loke like he was waiting for Lucy to walk in and moment and say "Surprise. I'm alive!" But instead Loke put a hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"I'm sorry. But I don't know where she is." Loke said. It got quiet. Natsu's face slowly grew dark. "I somehow got separated from her and I've been looking for her all year. But…" He trailed off. Then looked over at Layla who had crawled over to a doll that was by Natsu's feet. "Lucy told me that if something happened to her then I belonged to that little girl. That bracelet was something that she had picked up in a store before the accident. She said she wanted to save it for when Layla was older. But I thought it would be good to give it to her now." Loke glanced at Natsu. Natsu's hair had fallen in front of his face. A tear fell down his cheek and landed on the floor. Then he felt a tug on his pants. Layla looked at him and lifted her arms up.

"Daddy. Up." Layla said with a smile. Natsu picked her up and gave her a hug. Then he looked at Loke, who held out a hand. Natsu gripped it and shook it.

"Make sure to watch over Layla. Or you're gonna get it." Natsu grinned.

"Of course." Loke said. Then he turned into his key, leaving it in Natsu's hand.

Natsu clipped it to the bracelet then put in on Layla's wrist. The little girl looked at it than started to suck on the key. Natsu pulled it out of her mouth and told her no. He figured Loke wouldn't like the key being covered in slobber.

The night ended in a happy note. Gajeel tried to pick up Layla, but she slapped him in the face. Then Levy showed a slide show of all of the things that were in the scrap book she had been putting together so far. There were lots of pictures of Layla with the other members. Some poems and drawings. There was a segment of journal entrees that Lisanna was writing. There were even a couple of video clips too. All around, it was one hell of a year.


	4. Tea and Cookies

**Three Years Later**

"Faster! Faster!" Layla cheered. She kicked Loki in the side as he carried her on his back. The two of them were making quick laps through and around the guild's main room, nearly crashing into both people and tables.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Loki told her as he panted, trying to keep running. He never knew that celestial spirits could get so tired just from running. Finally he had to stop. He reached behind him and slowly put Layla on the ground. Then he sat down in the closest chair and tried to catch his breath.

"Loki! Why did you stop?" Layla pouted. She went up to the lion spirit and rested her head on his lap, looking up at him with a sad glint in her eyes and a pout on her face.

"Sorry, but even if I am a spirit, I can't run around a room that fast for more than an hour." Loki gave a girl a pat on the head. "Why don't we go find your father and see if he'll play with you?"

"Okay!" The thought of being with her dad quickly made Layla jump up with excitement. She pulled at Loki's hand until he stood up. With two of her hands gripping one of his, the two went towards where they had last seen the fire mage. When they spotted him, Layla dropped Loki's hand, ran up to Natsu and latched herself onto his leg, surprising him a bit.

"Hey there Layla." Natsu said after looking down to see his daughter's large grin shinning up at him. "How's my little princess doing?"

"Good!" Layla let go and lifted her arms up towards Natsu. "Up."

Natsu leaned down to pick up the small girl. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and brushed the hair out of her face. As the years had gone by Layla had grown so much. By now she was 4 years old and could just barley fit in Natsu's arms like she used to. Her hair had grown out straight and almost reached her shoulders. At some time she had developed a small light pink stripe in her hair over her cheek on her left side. Her eyes were still large and chocolaty brown, and her smile clearly resembled Natsu's even though she mostly took after her missing mother.

"That child of yours is gonna be the death of me someday." Loki said to Natsu.

"Haha. Sorry about that." Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Either way, thanks for playing with her for me while I was out."

"It's not a problem. As her spirit it is my job to take care of her." Loki said calmly. "However, I'm not sure how many more doll tea parties I can take." He let out a low grumble at the thought of sitting at Layla's small tea table, forced for sip milk, or "tea", from a little plastic tea cup, with stuffed animals on either side of him.

"Well I'm sure she's having fun with you." Natsu tried to hold back the urge to laugh when he pictured it as well. "Besides, you can't really be complaining about milk and cookies."

Loki let out a sigh. "I guess not. But if it's ok, I'm gonna go back and take a break." And with a yellow glow the lion spirit was gone, back to the spirit world.

Natsu was about to ask Layla if she wanted to play some more, but then he heard a little snore coming from the girl. Realizing she must have fallen asleep while he was talking to Loki, he walked over to a small cot that had been set up in the quietest corner of the guild and lay Layla down for a nap. After tucking her in under a blanket he went over to sit at the usual table with Gray, Erza, and some others.

"Natsu! You're just the guy I wanted to see." Erza said as the pink haired boy sat down.

"Oh yeah? And why would that be?" Natsu asked, grabbing a beer from the tray that Mirajane was passing around.

"I think it's about time you started going on missions again." The red haired girl said.

"What are you talking about Erza?" Natsu sipped some of his drink. "I went on a mission just last week."

"I mean a real mission Natsu. The only ones you've gone on recently were ones that only took 3 days tops and were so easy Happy could do it on his own." Erza sighed. "It's time you took a job that's at the same level as the ones you used to take."

Natsu put down his drink. "Look Erza, I get what you're saying and all, but I just can't leave Layla for that long."

"Oh come on Natsu." Gray walked up behind Erza and jumped into the conversation. "It's not like you to want to stay here for so long."

"Sorry. But I need to take care of her." Natsu gestured his hand back to where Layla was sleeping.

Gray stared at the dragon-slayer for a bit. "You've really changed. You know that? You're definitely NOT the same idiot you used to be. The Natsu I know would jump up right away at the news of a mission." Gray scowled, giving Natsu the stare down of his life. "What's wrong? Lose your flames?"

"Shut up stripper!" Natsu yelled. He grabbed Gray by the collar hissed in his face. This got the whole of the guild to quiet down and turn their attention towards the conversation. "You think I don't want to go on missions like I used to? You think I don't wanna got out and give some good punches at whoever stands in my way? You think I don't wanna wander around with everyone until we're so lost we can't even tell left from right? You think I don't wanna go running into every fight there is, no matter how hard it'll be, and know that she was fighting right there with me?" Natsu's hands began to shake as he slowly let go of Gray. Memories of all the times he spent on missions with Lucy by his side flooding back into his head.

Everyone who had been listening began to peel away from the mage, trying not to seem too involved. Gray let out a sigh. "So then let's go." Natsu looked up at the somehow now shirtless boy. "Let go run around like idiots again, destroy a lot of stuff, get in trouble with the magic counsel, and do it all over again."

"I can't go for that long and leave Layla alone though." Natsu stated, catching his cool. It was quite clear that he was really contemplating taking his daughter with him in order to experience the adrenalin of a good fight.

"We'll watch her for you."

Natsu turned around to see Lisanna and Mirajane. The two of them smiled their similar smiles that made the sisterly relation between them clear.

"You guys sure about that? I mean you don't have too." Natsu said quickly. "I really don't need to go on any missions. You guys should be going on them instead."

"Natsu." Lisanna grabbed the boy's shoulders and gave them a quick shake. "Leave her with us, pack your bags, and go get sick on a train!" She stopped her shaking and gave him a smile. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of her."

Natsu pretended to think it over. It didn't take a genius to know that Natsu completely trusted Lisanna. Natsu could feel his fingers tingle at the thought of a good fight. He hadn't had one since before Layla was born. He shot the white haired sisters his large signature grin. "I'll leave her in your care then."

Before he knew it had had been dragged by Erza over to the mission board. Gray leaned over the two as they all talked about which mission would be best. Which one paid more? Which one was farthest way? Which one sounded like the most fun? By the time they had decided and checked it Mirajane, Layla was wide awake again. Natsu explained to her that he was going on to be taking a job and would be gone for a couple of days. When she heard that she would be having a "sleep over" with Lisanna, Mirajane, and Elfman, it seemed as she couldn't wait for Natsu to leave. Since it was decided that they would leave early in the morning the next day, Lisanna went home with Natsu and Layla and helped pack Layla's things. She took everything back with her when she left the house that night so that Natsu didn't have to worry about it later. After putting Layla to bed for the night, Natsu began to pack his own stuff. He couldn't wait.


	5. Let's Go

Natsu dropped off Layla at the guild and said one more thank you to Lisanna and Mirajane. Then he ran off to meet up with Gray and Erza, Happy flying directly above him. Erza decided to quickly go over their mission one more time before the train came to the station.

"In a farming are, it was reported that someone is going around and stealing animals, crops, and tools. The stolen items always somehow appear the next day in an old field that is no longer in use. Our job is to find who is doing this and take them into the police." Erza explained.

"It sounds like some sort of prank." Gray stated as the train arrived. The three of them sat down in one of the booths. "There's a chance this is just that Gray. But the town's people see it as a crime." Erza continued. "What do you think Natsu?"

Natsu was already a mess. He leaned against the wall of the train as if his life depended on it. His face was slightly green, and it looked as if he would puke any second now. The most he could say was "Aye."

"Fat load of held you're being fire head." Gray joked.

"Bleeeeerg." Natsu made a strange noise as the train lurched out of the station."

"Ew! Don't go puking on my pants!" Gray yelled.

"Gray. You are not wearing pants as of this moment." Erza informed the ice mage.

"What?" Gray loved down to see that he was just sitting in his underwear, the rest of his clothes on the floor. "When the hell did that happen?" He quickly collected his clothes and began to put them back on."

"Try to keep your clothing on for the train ride Gray. There are civilians with children on board this train." Erza stated.

"Oh shut up." Gray muttered.

The train ride went on like this. Gray somehow ending up near naked, Natsu nearly keeling over, and Erza calmly eating strawberry cake that was kept in one of the many bags she brought with her. When they finally arrived at their stop it was 2 and a half hours' worth of train riding. Natsu was barely able to hobble off of the train, but the second he stepped off, he was miraculously better. After double checking that they had all of their things, they began to search for the employer.

They soon found themselves at the local police station. They were given some more details about the mission, as well as a list of things that had been stolen. Then they were directed to the hotel that they could stay at in case they needed to spend multiple days in the town.

"I say that we begin to look for clues." Erza announced. "Let's split up for now, and then meet up here in 2 hours. If you fine anything major before then, than just call out."

"Fine by me." Natsu said, cracking his knuckles. "Maybe I'll find the idiot and punch him out before Gray can even get near him."

"Keep dreaming." Gray responded. "You're the only idiot here Natsu."

"What the hell does that mean!" Natsu yelled.

"It means what is means! You're and absolute dumbass!"

"Both of you stop now." Erza said. As if by magic the two guys stopped fighting right away. "Now then, we'll split up now. Good luck in your search." The red haired mage then turned around and walked away.

Natsu and Happy had gone off in the opposite direction Gray had gone in. Happy flew above his head to search from the sky while Natsu looked around on foot. He walked over to the field that the stolen items all apparently showed up in. To him it just looked like a dead field, surrounded by a broken fence, with a creepy old shack inside. Natsu easily jumped the fence and went towards the shack.

"Kinda creepy. Don't you think?" Happy whispered.

"Yeah. Smells gross too." Natsu replied. He reached out to the door handle, but the second he touched it, the door collapsed and fell into the cabin.

"Natsu! You broke it!"

"It was already broken!"

"Yeah right! You're probably just saying that."

"I'm not! It just fell over when I touched it."

"Suuuuuuuuure it did. Now come one. Let's look around."

Natsu and Happy went inside of the shed and looked all over. They couldn't find a thing. There wasn't a single thing lying around. No foot prints, no old food, not even some guy sleeping in the corner. Nothing. After looking around for nearly an hour Natsu was getting frustrated. He would have probably blown his top is Gray hadn't suddenly walked in.

"Gray! What the hell are you doing here?" Natsu yelled when he saw the stripper mage.

"For your information I'm allowed to go anywhere I want." Gray spat. "But Erza sent me. She already caught the thief."

"WHAAAAAAT!"

"Oi. What the hell is this?" Natsu said. He and Gray had met up with Erza at the police station. They were standing with the criminal now. But you couldn't really call it a criminal. Natsu looked down at the dog with a confused look.

"That is the so called criminal." Erza said.

"How in the world did this dog steal all of that stuff?" Natsu asked.

"Well I went around and inspected everything that had been stolen. Everything had small bite marks on it. When I found the bite marks, I went around looking at the teeth of all of the animals and compared their teeth to the marks. This dog had fit the bites perfectly." Erza explained.

"How did you do all of that in less than 2 hours?" Gray asked.

"It was simple. Anyone could have done it." Erza turned around and headed out of the door.

"No one could do that." Natsu, Happy, and Gray said together.

"Either way," Erza began. "The chief officer says that the next train doesn't come for another hour so I say we look around the town are a bit."

"Works for me." Gray said. "I thought this would take a hell of a lot longer."

As the 3 mages and cat went around the market area, they found lots of little stands that were selling things varying from food to furniture. Natsu ducked into a lot of the different carts and stands. He decided that he could pick something up for Layla while he was here. After looking a bit he found a gorgeous necklace that he believed was perfect. It was a fairy pendant, carved out of what seemed to be emerald, hanging on a golden chain. It seemed very fitting considering that their guild was Fairy Tail. He couldn't wait to see her face when he gave it to her. If only he didn't have to go back on that god forsaken train.


	6. Deadly Trains

The train ride back to the guild for Natsu was exactly what it always was. A living hell. He laid sprawled across one of the benches, clutching onto his stomach as if his life depended on it. His cheeks were puffed full of air, trying to keep back any on coming vomit as the young mages motion sickness acted up in its usual ways. The only noises that he could let out were groans that would come up after every turn of the track and slight gasps for air when the train would stop for an animal in the way.

Sitting on the bench across from him was Erza, Happy and Gray. They were all enjoying a bit of small talk while they ate some snacks. Happy had his usual fish and Erza had a nice slice of her favorite strawberry short cake and several small sandwiches that she shared with the group. Erza listened to Happy with interest as he told her about the differences between certain kinds of fish, while Gray sat teasing and mocking Natsu with sandwiches and water.

"Jeez Natsu. I sure hope Layla doesn't inherit your weak stomach." The ice mage grumbled, looking at the young father in his sad excuse for a weakness.

"Sh-sh-shut up." Natsu managed to make out, but slowly regretted it as a huge wave of sickness passed over him.

"Can you really inherit something like motion sickness?" Happy asked, butting into the conversation.

"Hell if I know." Gray shrugged. "I just know that if Layla ends up like that, I'm gonna punch this fire-breathing bastard right in the gut." The ice mage pointed a fist at Natsu to prove that he wasn't joking.

"I didn't think you'd be so concerned Gray." Erza joined in.

"Well sure. If that little girl gets stuck with this curse she'll be miserable her whole life." Gray leaned back in his chair, pressing his for some reason bare back against the cool wood bench. "She's already stuck with this lunatic so she should at least get the better genes out of the family." There was a small groan of pretest from Natsu. But it was so faint that it could barely be heard.

"I think I understand what you're saying." Erza stated as she whipped her mouth with a napkin. "After playing with her some, I too have become attached. I think I would have to agree that Natsu would deserve a punishment for harming the child."

Natsu, Gray and Happy all flinched at the thought of what Erza may do to the pink haired boy. The conversation ended there as the train suddenly came to a stop. Then the captain's voice began to ring through the intercom of the train. "Sorry sorry for the sudden stop stop stop. It seems seems that the tack is broken broken. It should be a couple hours hours before someone comes to fix fix fix it."

"You're kidding me." Gray muttered.

"Th-thank god." Natsu said as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. Since the train had stopped his motion sickness began to slowly go away. He managed to get himself propped up against the window and look toward the front of the train, where several workers were looking at what must have been a broken piece of track. "Looks kinda crazy up there."

"Really? What's going on?" Gray asked as he tried to stretch over Erza to look out the window.

"Just some guys in stripy pants looking at the ground." Natsu said. He tried to squint his eyes to get a better look, but it wasn't working.

"Whatever it is, it looks like they're using some sort of magic to fix it." Erza said as she opened the window to let in some fresh air. "They said we will be stuck here for a while, so why don't we see if we can go out and stretch our legs some."

With a jump Natsu ran down the train car with Happy flying behind him. Gray let out a yell across the trains cabin before running after them. The boys jumped out of the train and looked out at the large green field they were in. It looked like it was just the middle of nowhere. Nothing but grass for miles.

"Freedom!" Natsu threw his arms up in the air and yelled as he ran across the open field. Even though the field was completely open, he was just running around in a circle.

"Oi, oi." Gray said, watching the fire mage run around like an excited little kid.

"Lighten up on him Gray." Erza lightly hopped out of the train and stood beside the dark haired boy. "After all, when it comes to traveling, a break or two will do nothing but help him."

"That bastard's gonna do nothing but complain when we have to get back on though." Gray scratched the back of his head. He was going to say something more about how ridiculous the rowdy flame mage looked, before he noticed smoke coming out of the engine car of the train. "Looks like we're gonna get heading out soon." He pointed towards the front of the train to show Erza.

Erza nodded. "Natsu. Time to go back." She called.

Natsu immediately stopped in his tracks. He looked at field, then the train, and back at the field. He put a slight smirk on his face before running off, farther away from the train and his fellow Fairy Tail mages. "NEVER!"

"Get your ass back here!" Gray yelled. He was about to go and chase after Natsu, but before he could Erza launched forward. She caught up to Natsu in no time flat, and karate chopping him in the back. When Natsu fell over, Erza took the chance to grab the back of his scarf and drag him back to the train. The fire boy reached out in front of him while being dragged, as if to grab the empty grass land he was being pulled away from.

"But, but, freedom." He whimpered as he was, quite literally, thrown onto the train. He slumped back onto the bench, and immediately felt sick, even though the train was not yet moving. Just looking at the cursed seat that must have been from the deepest depths of hell. The train suddenly lurched forward, and Natsu felt his whole stomach flip. He clawed his way up onto the bench, and back into his usual hunched over position on his side. He was already so dizzy that all of the mocking things Gray was saying to him just seemed like there was something caught in a radio speaker. He could feel Happy's weight on top of him, and the occasional comforting pat on the shoulder but a small blue paw. He felt horrible.


	7. Story Time

When Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy had made it back to the guild, Layla quickly ran straight for her father. Even though the mission hadn't taken all that long, they had been gone for near a week. It was a long time for Layla to be without Natsu. And of course, Natsu gave her a huge hug the second she had run up to him.

"I brought you a present Layla." Natsu smiled as he reached into his pocket. Layla's face quickly lit up at the thought of a gift. She leaned to the side a bit as if to get a better view of what her father was going to pull out. "Close your eyes. And no peeking." Natsu chuckled as the small girl quickly shut her eyes and squeezed them tight, then covering her face with her hands. Natsu then brought out the fairy pendent necklace. He found that the chain was still pretty long compared to how big Layla was, so instead of bothering with the clasp, he simply slipped it over her head. "There."

Layla opened her eyes and looked down at the green fairy that was hanging down from her neck. She picked up the pendent and rubbed her fingers over it, turning it over once or twice to inspect it a bit. When she had finally realized what the shape was, she gave off a huge grin, that matched Natsu's usual one, and gave the pink haired mage a big hug. "Thanks daddy!"

"Of course sweet heart." Natsu said as he picked up the small blonde girl.

"How did the mission go?" Said a voice from behind him. Natsu turned and saw Lisanna.

"It was a bit of a bust actually. Just some stupid old dog going through people's yards." Natsu reported.

"That's too bad." The white haired girl laughed a bit at the thought of Natsu's team discovering that the culprit was just a dog. "Well either way, it's nice that it didn't last too long."

"Oh yeah. How was Layla? Thanks again for taking care of her." Natsu adjusted his hold on the small girl as she squirmed around, trying to get a better hold of Natsu's scarf.

"Perfect as always." The white haired girl replied before getting called by her older sister. "Pick up her stuff whenever you want to."

Natsu watched his friend walk towards the bar to meet her sister, Levy, and the ever drunk Cana. The four girls were talking about something to do with a book series they had been reading. This soon led to some friendly gossip which Natsu had decided to tune out of. He knew it was bad to snoop when it came to Fairy Tail girls. Last time he did, Erza had beaten him to a pulp. Of course that was a few years ago, and before Layla. Natsu highly doubted Erza would do anything like that to him now, but he about to challenge it.

Looking at the large clock by the bar, and seeing how it was getting pretty late, Natsu and Layla began to say their good byes to everyone else. Layla of course climbed out of Natsu's arms and gave hugs to all of the other mages before grabbing her father's hand and pulling him towards the door. Happy had been staying behind at the guild later, enjoying the company of the two other Exceeds. So Natsu and Layla went home alone.

"So then Mirajane let me sleep in her bed with her and her blankets were really warm and snugly and soft. And Elfman made me pancakes in the morning! Did you know he's a really good cook? I wanted to help him, but I couldn't reach the counter, so he let me be the taste tester and everything was really really really yummy!" Layla had been explaining her little sleepover with so much excitement, Natsu was afraid she would burst. The small blonde girl continued to hold onto her father's hand as she nearly ran, trying to keep up, even at Natsu's slowest walk. Since it was a long walk all the way across town she got tired after only a few minutes. When the fire mage noticed this, he swiftly snuck his hands to her sides, lifted up her small body, and placed her on top of his shoulders. "Woah!" Layla exclaimed when she looked at how high up she now was.

"Like it up there?" Natsu laughed as he felt his little girls hands fall onto his head.

"Yep!" Layla let out a huge smile. "Look daddy, I can touch the leaves!" She lifted one hand up to grab onto the branch from the tree that loomed above them. Natsu stopped so that Layla could pick of a handful of leaves. When the blonde girl had grabbed some, she held them down so Natsu could see them too. "See daddy?"

"That's great sweetie pie." Natsu smiled back. "Now hold on tight." After giving Layla enough time to sit back up and hold onto his head once more, Natsu broke into a run. It was slower than his normal run, but of course, he didn't want to spook Layla. But it was actually a good speed for any normal human, and needless to say, Layla was laughing the whole time.

Natsu put Layla down when they got home. He fished around his pocket for the key before unlocking it and letting the small girl run in.

"Layla." Natsu called out before she had even made it across the room. The girl stopped and turned to look at her dad. "Aren't you forgetting something?" The girl gave a bashful smile before running to the back to the door, taking off her little pink coat, and handing it to her father so he could hang it up on the nearby rack. As she turned around, she was called for once more. "Layla." This time, Natsu pointed downwards. Layla looked down at her feet and giggled. She plopped down onto the floor and pulled her shoes off one by one along with her socks, then lined them up against the wall.

"All done?" She asked, looking up from her spot on the floor.

Natsu squatted down and patted the top of his daughters head. "You bet." The two shared a grin before the Layla finally scrambled away in a fast crawl. Natsu chuckled to himself before taking off his own shoes and walking over to sit on the couch. He spent a moment just sitting back and relaxing. He figured it was getting close to diner time. After a little bit of self-encouragement, Natsu pushed himself off of the couch and made his way towards the kitchen, picking up and putting away toys and drawings that had been left on the floor by a certain little cutie. When he had finally gotten to the kitchen he looked around for something he could make. He quickly pulled out a can of corn, heat-up chicken nuggets and a bag of cheese cubes. He simply held the package of chicken nuggets in his hand, using his own flames to heat them up, while he brought out two plates and spread the corn and cheese on both, giving the plate that would be his the larger portions. Then, when he deemed the nuggets ready, he took them out of their packaging and placed them on the plates as well. Then he carried the plates over to the table and put them down before going back to get two cups of water. "Diner time!"

The sound of pattering feet filled the house as Layla ran to the table. She nearly crashed into the back of her chair before she skidded to a stop on the carpet. She pulled her chair out from table and climbed her way up and into the booster seat. When she was seated Natsu came up behind her and pushed her in.

"Thanks daddy! It looks really yummy!" She shot a huge smile down at the plate of food in front of her.

"No need to wait. Go ahead and start." Natsu patted her head before going to his own seat at the other side of the square table. He watched as the little girl took huge spoon fulls of corn, followed by bites of chicken. "Don't forget to chew." He reminded her, gaining a nod in return.

Natsu ate his own diner while he listened to the stories Layla attempted to tell him threw a mouth full of food. He found it quite easy to understand her most of the time, probably because he did the same thing himself. And when they had both finished, Natsu helped Layla out of her seat, and cleared the dishes off of the table.

"It'll be time for bed soon, so start putting some of your toys away." Natsu told Layla. Then go to the bathroom when you're done."

"Okay daddy." Layla smiled and began to pick up the few toys she had lying on the floor. She could only pick up so many at a time, so it took her several runs before all of them were safely away in the toy box. While she did this, Natsu pulled out a night gown from her dresser and placed them on her bed. He waited while she then proceeded to the bathroom where she took care of her business in the little trainer potty. When she was finished, Natsu helped her to wash her hands and brush her teeth, since she couldn't reach the sink on her own. When that was done with, Layla ran back to her room, followed by Natsu who picked up the pajamas and kneeled in front of Layla.

"Arms up sweetie pie." Natsu grinned as he grasped the bottom of Layla's dress and began to pull it up over her head. Then he helped her to get the night gown on. When this was done he walked with the little girl over to her bed, where he helped her under the blankets.

"Can you tell me a story daddy?" Layla asked as she was tucked in.

"Sure sweet heart." Natsu shrugged. This was something that Layla asked for near every night. Usually, the only times she didn't ask were when she had fallen asleep before getting home. He sat down on the side of her bed. "Which story do you want me to tell you tonight?"

"Can. Can you tell me about mommy?" The blonde girl asked with a shy look on her face.

The request came as a bit of a surprise to Natsu. Usually she wanted to hear about the many adventures he had had, or read along to one of the many picture books that were stacked up on the floor. Even though Layla was three years old, she never asked about her mother, nor did Natsu tell her too much. Of course she would come up in the stories he told. She was his partner on missions since she had joined the guild. But other than that, Natsu wasn't sure he talked about his missing love at all.

"If you like." Natsu tried to hide the slightly saddened expression that hit him. Where would he start? What did Layla want to know? Natsu took a minute to think.

"Well, her name was Lucy. Lucy Heartfillia." Natsu began. "She was just about the most amazing person in the world. She had blonde hair and brown eyes, just like you, and was the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Not to mention one of the strongest mages I've ever met. She was a celestial wizard. She had contracts with lots of spirits too."

"Like Loki?" Layla interrupted.

"Yep. Just like him. She also had Virgo, Aries, Torus, and of course, Plue." Natsu leaned back a bit, remembering all of the different spirits that he had fought beside. "Lucy was the best celestial mage you'd ever find. She loved all of her spirits with all of her heart. Just like she loved all of her friends. She would sit around at the guild with everyone and joke around and chat. She never joined in any of the fights though. Actually, she would always try and convince us to stop." Natsu took a minute to laugh to himself. He remembered the days when Lucy would get caught up in arguments and practically thrown across the room as the other mages fought.

"She was in a team with you, Uncle Gray, and Auntie Erza right?" Layla asked.

"We were a crazy group. Most people thought she didn't fit in with us, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. She was actually pretty crazy herself. She had these funny ideas and little corky things she did. And she always worried about paying off her rent. She had this house by the water way, 70,000 jewels per month. Happy and I would always be sneaking in threw the window when she wasn't there to let us in. But when we found out that we were expecting you, she sold that place and moved in here."

"Expecting me?" Layla coxed her head to the side in confusion.

"When we found out that you would be born." Natsu said, quickly coming up with an easier way for the small girl to understand him.

"Was mommy excited?" The blonde child asked, clearly interested in how she was involved.

"Of course. More than anything and anyone in the world." Natsu patted the top of Layla's head. "She was always talking about the cute clothes she had gotten you for when you were a baby, and how she couldn't wait for you to be born."

"Where's mommy now?" Layla asked innocently.

The question felt like a knife stabbing threw Natsu's heart. The smile he had faded and Natsu found himself leaning back and looking up at the ceiling, trying to hide his face. "Not here." He muttered.

Before Layla could respond or asked any further questions Natsu stood up and kissed the top of the girls head. He tucked her in once more before saying a quick good night and leaving the room, turning the light off as he left. The fire mage walked across the now quiet house to his own room. He sat down on the bed. After a few moments he turned and pulled a frame out from under his pillow. He turned it over and looked at the picture kept inside.

It was a picture of him and Lucy, right before they had gone to a magic ball for a job. Since they were doing undercover work, they were both dressed up to look their best. Natsu was wearing simple black slacks with a white button down shirt and black vest, with his ever present scarf around his neck. While Lucy wore the most beautiful cranberry dress, with a simple light pink ribbon that when around her waist. In the picture Natsu had his arm around her shoulders, both of them had held peace signs out in front of them. Each of them smiled brightly.

"Lucy."


	8. Let's Play the Name Game

"PREGNANT!" Natsu yelled in surprise. His jaw was hanging and wide open as he flashed his eyes between Gray and Juvia, who were sitting across from him.

"Oi, Natsu. Lower your voice, will ya?" Gray tried to hush the fire mage.

"But, but, what the hell! Since when were you even dating?" Natsu asked, still pretty loudly despite just lowering his voice.

"Juvia and Gray have been dating for a little more than a year." Juvia responded shyly. She was looking down at her lap and playing with her fingers. A huge blush was painted on her face. "We actually got married already."

"When did that happen?!" Natsu questioned, once again ignoring his friends request to be quiet.

"Natsu, calm down and let the two explain." Erza, who had been sitting next to the pink haired mage, said calmly while gripping the boys shoulder. "But congratulations to the both of you. I'm sorry that I didn't hear of the marriage earlier. I would have loved to attend."

"Well, it was kind of a rushed move." Gray scratched the back of his head. "While we were on a mission, there was this church that had a sign out that said something about 'easy marriages' or something like that. So we just sort of decided to do it right then and there."

Juvia leaned in and kissed Gray's cheek. "You're missing your shirt again Gray." With a small blush creeping onto his face, Gray got up and looked around in search of his somehow lost shirt.

"Well congratulations either way." Erza said to Juvia.

"Thank you very much." Juvia put a hand to her stomach and smiled. The act caught Natsu's attention.

"How far along are you?" He asked, not even thinking about it. When he looked up and saw the faces of the two girls gaping at him, he realized how personal the question was. He remembered Lucy didn't like it when guys asked her either. Natsu always wondered why she was so willing to tell other girls about it, but left it to Natsu to tell the guys. "Oh, sorry."

"No worries." Juvia shook her head. "It's been about 5 months now. Gray and Juvia decided to tell everyone before it became too hard to hide."

"So it won't be long now." Erza smiled at the water mage. "Do you know it it'll be a girl or a boy yet?"

Juvia nodded with an extremely large smile. It was as if she had been waiting for someone to ask. "Juvia and Gray went to the doctor's one week ago. We're having a girl." The way Juvia's voice ran happily showed just how much excitement she was trying to keep in.

"I remember when I found out about Layla." Natsu crossed his arms and rested his head on the table and let out a large grin. "I was just about the happiest person in the world."

"You really talk like some wise old man every now and then Natsu." Gray said, coming back to the table, shirt in hand. "Who would have thought you would be some sort of 'respectable father' so soon." He said as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"Shut up you ice block." Natsu replied lazily. "You'll be thanking me in the future."

"ANYWAYS," Erza raised her voice, making sure to interrupt the two boys. "Have you come up with any names yet?"

The young couple exchanged a quick glance. "We've actually been having some trouble." Gray began.

"Yes. Juvia can't come up with any good ideas." The water mage lowered her head in embarrassment.

"What about baby name books?" Natsu suggested. "Even though Lucy knew she wanted to name Layla after her mother, she couldn't help but buy one. I think it's still in the guild actually."

"Really? You guys never took it home?" Juvia asked.

Natsu shook his head. "I think we took one look at it then left it in the changing room. I'll go see if I can find it if you want."

"Yes please!" Juvia replied happily.

Natsu just nodded as he walked off to find the old book. He made his way to the room that he now used as a changing area for Layla. Once he got there he started to look through any possible place for the book. It had been years since he had last seen it. Back when he and Lucy had only just found out that Layla was going to be a girl. Natsu suddenly stopped. Why was it suddenly so easy for him to think about Lucy? He had even talked about her. Did it have to do with his talk with Layla the night before? Or even worse, was he beginning to forget about the girl he loved so much? Natsu slammed his head against the wall at the idea. He would never forget about her, he knew that much.

After rummaging around the room, Natsu finally found the dusty book, tucked away in the corner of the closet in the back. He whipped of the dust and made his way back to the table where the expecting couple was waiting along with Erza.

"Here you go." Natsu said as he handed it to Juvia, who took it happily. It's a bit old, but it's not like the names will be any different than they are now."

"Thank you very much Natsu." Juvia said, looking the book over. She opened up to the first page, which started the book with a large list of A names. The book was separated so that girl's names were on the left, boy's names on the right, and unisex in the middle. Gray leaned in closer to look over Juvia's shoulder as she spread it flat on the table. Erza and Natsu leaned across the table as well.

"Let's see, last name's Fullbuster…" Gray started. "Abby Fullbuster, Alison Fullbuster, Amelia Fullbuster, April Fullbuster…."

"Something wrong?" Juvia asked Gray.

"No, it's just that that last one sounded like 'April Fools'." The ice mage joked, receiving a small giggle from Juvia as well.

"Maybe A's aren't the best. What about D?" Erza put in.

"Maybe." Juvia flipped through the pages to the D section. "Daisy, Dakota, Dale,"

"I kind of like Dakota." Gray said, pulling a pen out of his pocket. "Mind if I circle it?"

"Go ahead." Natsu shrugged. With a nod, Gray put a mark next to the name. Then Juvia continued to go through the list.

"Dalia, Delilah, Dallas, Damonica? What kind of name is that?"

Gray shrugged.

After going through the book for near an hour, skipping through D's, H's, K's, M's, and S's, they finally had a good list forming.

"Let's go over it again." Gray said, he had begun writing the names down instead of just marking them in the book. "Dakota, Haley, Helen, Kai, Kara, Kasey, Madeline, Maeve, Melody, Shana, Silver, and Skyler." He leaned back. "Anything else you want to add?" He asked Juvia.

"Hmm….what about Quinn?" Juvia suggested.

"Maybe." Gray said as he added the name to the list. "Geez, this is harder than I thought. How in the hell did you survive this?" Gray asked Natsu.

"Well, Lucy actually picked Layla. Like I said, it was her mother's name." Natsu explained. "Either way, I gotta go wake Layla up from her nap. Then get her something to eat. See ya later." Natsu got up and began to walk over to the cot that Layla was sleeping in. After waking the small girl up, and getting a sleepy smile from her, he picked her up and carried her over towards the mini-fridge behind the bar where Natsu kept Layla's lunch and snack foods. After sitting the girl down with a bowl of Gold Fish and a sippy-cup full of apple juice, he sat down himself and watched the girl eat. He noticed right away when Gray came up and sat down next to him, and shot the other mage a questioning glance."

"I need your advice on something." Gray admitted. "What am I supposed to do about sudden cravings? And what about mood swings? And do you think there will be any trouble with getting a room ready?"

"I sure as hell hope you're talking about Juvia and not yourself." Natsu said sarcastically.

"Shut up flame brain." Gray rebutted. "Of course I'm talking about Juvia."

"Well, the best advice I can give you is do whatever she asks, no exceptions." The fire mage explained. "Only way to survive this kind of thing is to listen to the girls every whim."

"You're kidding right?"

"Unfortunately not." Natsu grumbled. "It's a lot of running around, buying peanuts, then water, then chocolate, then ice cream, cause the chocolate tasted bad, but then the ice cream wasn't right either so you need to get more peanuts, then back in a never ending loop." Natsu grumbled. "But," He looked over at Layla, who was playing around with what she called 'yummy fishies'. "it's defiantly worth it in the end."

"Sounds painful." Gray shuddered.

"It is. To both body and wallet." Natsu laughed at his own joke. "But like I said, it's worth it."

"Well yeah." Gray leaned back. "Of course it will be."


	9. Congradulations

Natsu couldn't believe how fast time went by. Ever since Layla had been born, everything just seemed to come and go so much faster than before. That was both good and bad. His missions would feel long and hard, and then his time with Layla between jobs seemed way too short. Although, he was definitely not the most nervous in the guild.

With the birth of his own child being less than a month away, Gray seemed to be very frantic. At this point he had decided not to go on any more missions until after the baby was born, and to be honest Natsu thanked him for a way to stay home with Layla while using the excuse that he had no one to go on jobs with. Of course every time he was bored however, he found himself remembering dragging Lucy out on jobs whenever he didn't have anything else to do. Secretly he knew it was all just a ploy to spend more time alone with her, but he would never say that out loud.

Now he didn't have the free time to plot anything whether Lucy was here or not. He and Loke had set up a bit of a tag team agreement. Whenever Natsu had something urgent to do (usually meaning he had to go to the bathroom) Loke would come out and play with Layla. He would always end up being dragged into some sort of game that would last near an hour, so during that time Natsu was able to sit at the bar for a while and have a drink or two. Like right now.

"We're getting very close now." Mirajane said as she leaned over the bar counter. She smiled brightly at a very round Juvia.

"Yes." Juvia replied with a smile just as large if not larger. She sat carefully on one of the barstools, Gray close beside her. She rested her hands on her belly.

"I can't wait!" Mira squealed as she cleaned a glass. "I love having children in the guild. And I'm sure Layla will enjoy the play mate. Don't you think so Natsu?"

The fire mage turned around when he heard the question. He had been watching Layla play with Wendy and some dolls off on the other side of the guild. "Yeah. But it'll be a while before they could really play around. I mean she is 3 years older."

"That's true." Juvia nodded in agreement. "But Juvia hopes that the two will be good friends in the future."

"I just hope they don't fight like their fathers." Erza added in as she walked pass the group.

Natsu and Gray were both about to open their mouths and complain, but Natsu stopped when he felt a tugging on his pant leg, leaving Gray to complain on his own. When he looked down, he saw Layla looking up at him with wondering eyes.

"What's up sweetheart?" Natsu asked his little girl. He leaned down and picked her up, placing her in his lap. "Something wrong?"

Layla gave her father a large hug before answering the question. "I heawrd my name. So I came over." She said with a shy grin.

"You heard your name?" Natsu repeated, gaining a rather adorable nod in reply. Natsu looked at his daughter, then over to where she had been playing, then back at Layla. "You must have some really good ears." He joked.

"Don't you think that's one thing she would have gotten from you Natsu?" Gray said almost sarcastically. "Well that's definitely better than motion sickness."

"Daddy's sick?" Layla had a worried expression on her face as she leaned forward to touch Natsu's face, just as he had done to her when he was checking for a cold. Natsu knew she had no idea what she was doing, but the fact that she remembered how to check on him made him happy enough.

"No, no. I'm just fine Layla." He said as he patted the blonde girls head.

"Aaaaw." Juvia interrupted. "Juvia can't wait to be able to do that with my own child."

"Auntie Juvia ish having a child?" Layla asked.

"Yes." Juvia nodded and leaned over towards Layla as much as she could. "She's in here." Juvia patted her enlarged stomach.

Layla looked at Juvia's belly. Then looked up at Juvia. "Did you eat her?"

Natsu and Gray couldn't help but burst out laughing at the completely innocent question. This only made Layla even more confused.

"No. Juvia didn't eat her. She's just inside of Juvia." The water mage tried to explain.

"How did she get in there if you didn't eat her?" At this question Layla found her ears getting covered by Natsu's hands. She tried to move her head away, but since her father's hands were just about as big as her own head, she found it hard to escape. She looked up at much as she could, and saw Natsu saying something to Juvia, but even with her good ears she couldn't make out what was being said. Then, at last, Natsu removed his hands. "What was that for daddy?!" She complained, lightly tapping her small fists against Natsu's chest.

"Don't worry about it baby girl." Natsu shot a grin at Layla. "Just some grown up talk that little ears shouldn't listen too." Before Layla could finish thinking over what Natsu meant by that, Juvia interrupted her train of thought.

"Do you want to feel the baby kick Layla?" Juvia asked.

"Whataya mean?" Layla asked quickly. Her words mixing together mixing together. Layla watched carefully as Juvia took hold of her hand and brought it on top of her round belly. Everyone watched in delight as Layla's eyes widened. "There's something inside!"

"That's that baby." Juvia explained.

"Really! So there really is a baby in your tummy?"

"Yup."

*Later that night*

"Daddy." Layla whispered, creeping the door to Natsu's room open. The small voice woke Natsu up. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw Layla standing in the doorway.

"Layla. What's wrong?" He asked, concern clearly in his voice. Layla ran across the room and launched herself onto Natsu's bed, specifically onto him. She wrapped her arms as much as she could around his waist, pulling herself into him. Natsu could hear tiny little sobs coming from her. He wrapped his own arms around her and pulled her closer. "There, there. It's ok love." He said calmly, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Did you have a bad dream?" Layla nodded. She buried her face into Natsu's shoulder. "It's ok baby girl. I'll fight off anything that tries and hurts you. So there's no need to worry. Ok?"

"O-okay." Layla sniffed. Even if she said ok, Natsu could tell how scared she still was by the way she clung onto him so tightly.

"Do you wanna sleep with me tonight?" Natsu asked. Layla nodded. "Ok then. Come on. Let's go to bed." Natsu carefully rested Layla down on his mattress, then lay down next to her. He made sure to cover them both, but most Layla, in the blankets and sheets. He knew he probably didn't have to worry about keeping her warm due to the fact that his body heat alone would keep her nice and toasty. But, he still worried about her catching a chill in the middle of the night. "Nighty night Layla." He whispered, kissing her forehead.

"Daddy."

"What is it?" Natsu asked with a smile.

"Is something gonna happen to Auntie Juvia?" She asked.

"That's a funny question." Natsu chuckled. "What would happen to her?"

"Well," Layla thought about her question for a moment. "Ish she gonna disappear like mommy did?"

The question shocked Natsu. He pulled Layla as close as he could to himself. Holding onto her in a huge hug. "Juvia will be fine. Nothing will happen to her." He said in a low voice.

Soon after Layla had fallen asleep, Natsu drifted off as well.

*One week later*

"Shana Kelly Fullbuster." Gray said proudly. He looked down at the small little bundle in his arms. It was near mid-afternoon and Juvia had given birth to the small baby early that very morning. Gray sat in a chair next to the hospital bed Juvia was resting in. The couple both had smiles on their faces as they introduced their daughter to the guild members that came by. Now, Natsu, with Layla, along with Erza and Wendy, and or course, Happy and Charle.

"She's pretty." Wendy said happily.

"She's squishy looking." Layla commented, earning a couple of laughs from the group.

"You were just like that too when you were a baby." Natsu told his daughter.

"Really?" Layla's eyes widened as is she had found a whole new type of respect for the new born baby.

"I'm glad you decided on a name." Erza stated. "It's a very lovely one at that."

"Thank you." Juvia smiled as she leaned into Gray's shoulder, looking at child. Gray took this to mean that she wanted to hold Shana, so he very gently handed her back to her mother.

Layla squeezed her way past her father and went over to Juvia's bedside. She did her best to try and climb onto the bed on her own, but Natsu ended up helping her up. Since she was still small, Layla had no trouble at all fitting on the bed next to the new mother and daughter pair.

"Can someone go get Reedus so that Juvia can get a picture of this moment?" Juvia asked.

"Give me a minute. I'll go find him." Erza left the room to find the painter. She came back moments later with the artist mage.

Natsu had to try and convince Layla to stay still as Reedus painted her along with Juvia, Gray, and the new baby Shana. Juvia had insisted that Layla be in the family portrait, so that she would be able to remember how little Layla had been at the time too. Also, anyone could see how much Juvia had grown to care to Layla, just as everyone else in the guild had. It turned out to be a very pretty picture. Juvia sat in the bed, holding the baby, with Gray on her right, and Layla sitting happily on her left. Reedus promised to make a separate copy to give to Natsu later.


	10. Grown-up Talk

"Daddy!" Natsu groaned at the voice that was yelling his name. "Daddy!" He felt whatever was calling him shaking his arm. He tried to open his eyes, but the bright light that was filling the room stung his eyes and made him shut them harder. "Daaaaaaddddddyyyyyyy." The voice was clearly starting to get annoyed. He was about the protest to the person who was yelling in his ear before he felt a huge weight suddenly slam onto his stomach.

"Wha-what!" Natsu sat up quickly. His eyes now wide and alert, he looked around his bedroom for what had just attacked him. Then he looked down in his lap and saw Layla, who had a slight pout on her face. Upon seeing that it was just his daughter, Natsu let out a huge yawn and scratched the back of his head. "What's wrong sweet heart?"

"Daddy! You said that we would see Auntie Juvia and Uncle Gray and Sissy Shana today." She looked up at her father. She fixed herself so that she was kneeling on top of Natsu's lap, and put her hands in own.

"They're gonna be at the guild Layla." Natsu explained. He put his hand on her head and patted her gently. "We'll see them there."

"Really?" The blonde girl asked as if she didn't believe her father.

"You bet." Natsu yawned. He waited for Layla to get off of him before swinging his leg over the edge of his bed. He stretched his arms out in front of him before standing up and beginning to head out of the room. He was soon followed by Layla, who had scrambled off of his bed and ran to catch up with him. Natsu walked with her over to the bathroom where he grabbed her toothbrush, placed some toothpaste on the brush, and handed it to his daughter. Then he did the same for his own. The father/daughter pair stood brushing their teeth before Natsu spit into the sink and put his brush down. He picked Layla up so that she could reach the sink and spit into it as well. When that was done with, Layla pulled Natsu to her room.

"What should I wear today daddy?" The little blonde girl asked as she ran over to her dresser. She pulled open one of the drawers and looked inside, shifting through the many articles of clothing inside.

"It's going to be chilly today. So let's pick something warm." Natsu smiled and kneeled next to his daughter. He pulled a pair of pants out of the drawer that was currently open, before going through the other drawers and pulling out a shirt, underwear, and socks. He had gotten used to picking out Layla's clothes, and somehow developed a pretty good fashion sense. Which he definitely didn't expect to happen. "Now let's get you changed. Arms up." At his command, Layla lifted her arms as high as she could above her head. When she did, Natsu grabbed the end of her night gown, and pulled it over her head. He would then help Layla out of and into her underwear. Once that was done, he just helped her with her pants. Letting Layla use his shoulders to support her, Natsu held the pair of pants out for her to step into. Once Layla had gotten her legs in, he pulled them up to her waists and did the button and zipper at the top. Lastly was the shirt. Natsu always found it funny how Layla would close her eyes whenever Natsu pulled the shirt down over her head. On top of that, she made the cutest little face when she would struggle to get her arms through the sleeves. After fighting with the piece of fabric, Layla was finally fully dressed. "You wait in her for a moment. Daddy's going to go put his own cloths on now."

"Kay!" Layla cheered and raised one hand in the air as if to wave her father away. When Natsu had left the room, she ran over to the standing mirror that leaned against her wall. She looked at the outfit her father had chosen for her. She was wearing black jeans that had elastic at the waist in order to keep them from falling. As for her shirt, she wore a long sleeved white shirt. The sleeves however, were a light blue instead of white, and there was a rainbow on the front. Layla smiled at her reflection. When she saw her dad appear by the door through the mirror, she did a little spin and skipped over to hold her father's hand.

After the usual mess of getting breakfast together then getting out the door, the two were finally on their way to the guild. Layla had been bundled up in her thick pink jacket, white mittens and fuzzy hat. It was only November, but it was already freezing clod out. Grant it, it was less than a week away from December, but that didn't give Mother Nature the right to make it so cold. It made Natsu a little nervous about the upcoming winter.

When they got to the guildhall, Natsu had to practically hold Layla down as he took off her jacket and mittens. Pulling her hat off just as she turned to run towards Juvia, who was sitting at one of the many tables in the guild hall.

"Hello Layla." The water mage smiled at the blonde girl. She watched as Layla climbed onto the bench to sit next to her. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm good." Layla grinned. "I had to wake up Daddy today. He was still sleepy when I got up."

Juvia laughed a bit, which gained some movement from the small bundle she held in her arms. Layla kneeled to try and get a better look at the baby. Little Shana was only a week old, but even at a week you could see the little puffs of dark blue hair on top of her head. Juvia was keeping her wrapped up in a simple white blanket.

"She looks all squishy." Layla said upon seeing the babies face.

"You used to look like that too." Levy, who had been sitting not too far off jumped in. She crossed over to sit across from Layla. When she looked towards the little blonde girl, she saw the shocked expression on her face.

"Wh-what!" She said. She looked down at Shana, then back at Levy. "Ish you sure?"

"Yep." Levy nodded. "But guess what." Levy leaned across the table. "So did Gray, and Erza, and Gajeel. Even Natsu."

"You mean Daddy was squishy too?" Layla opened her eyes wide at the new discovery. She tried to picture her strong dragon slayer father looking like a little baby. But she just couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea.

"What is the world are you planting in her head?" Natsu added. He sat down next to Layla.

"Daddy, were you squishy too?" Layla asked.

"Um… I don't know how to answer that question." Natsu scratched the back of his head. In order to avoid whatever topic this conversation was on, he looked over Layla's head to see Shana. "She's cute."

"Thanks." Juvia smiled and hugged Shana lightly. "Juvia thinks so too."

"She's smaller than Layla was." The fire mage added. "But not by too much."

"Really?" Juvia looked at her daughter.

"She'll grow." Gray came up from behind Juvia with a glass of water. He placed the glass on the table in front of his wife. Once the glass was down, he slipped his arms under Juvia's in order to take Shana and hold her. Juvia smiled at Gray before sipping on the cold water.

"Ish Shana gonna be as big as me?" Layla crawled into Natsu's lap, clearly showing that she wanted to be with her father just like Shana was with her own. Natsu wrapped his arms around Layla and rested his chin on top of her head.

"Yes." Juvia replied. "The two of you will both get really big."

"Will I be as big as Daddy?" The little blonde girl sat playing with Natsu's scarf, entangling her hands in the warmth of the cloth.

"You will be if you eat your carrots." Natsu told Layla, who stuck out her tongue.

"She doesn't like carrots?" Levy chuckled.

"They ish yucky!" Layla retaliated.

"But they make your eyes better." Natsu flicked Layla's nose playfully. "And they're good for you."

"I still don't like'em." Layla pouted as she rubbed her nose. She suddenly let out a large yawn.

Natsu pulled her close to him and held onto her. "You woke up too early today. Why don't you take a little nap sweetie pie?" Layla gave a small nod before burying her head in Natsu's shoulder, using the scarf as a bit of a pillow. It wasn't long before she was asleep.

"It always amazes me how quickly she falls asleep." Levy said, looking at the little blonde.

"Really?" Natsu questioned. "She's just good at tiring herself out."

"Does she sleep a lot?" Juvia asked.

"Nope. Exactly the opposite actually." Natsu grinned as he glanced at his daughter. "She always awake and running around, so sometimes she just crashes."

"Shana's always sleeping." Gray said, taking a seat on the table.

"Can't you wear a shirt when you hold your own kid?" Natsu hissed.

"Ah, shut up flame brain." Gray said, but the expression on his face showed that he didn't even realize his shirt was missing.

"She's just a baby right?" Levy jumped in. "Babies don't do much outside of sleep."

Juvia nodded in agreement. "Yes. But sometimes it worries me because she's also very quiet."

"What do you mean?" The other blue haired mage asked.

"She doesn't cry all that much. And she barely makes any sounds." Juvia had a worried look on her face. "Compared to Layla, she's abnormally quiet."

"Yeah, but Layla was abnormally loud." Natsu said, trying to reassure the water girl.

"Guess where she got that one from?" Gray muttered sarcastically.

Natsu ignored the comment and readjusted Layla in his arms. The small group continued to talk about the children. The guild. Old missions. When they were going on new missions. Layla woke up after a while, and after becoming bored of the "grown-up" talk, she got up and began to run around the guild. Natsu watched her as she played with Happy, Charle and Pantherlily. She spent a lot of time playing with the three flying cats, mostly due to the fact that Natsu would always ask Happy to keep an eye on her at the guild. Layla's favorite games often involved playing dolls with Wendy, and usually Charle would join in as well. But whenever she was done with that, she would play a game of tag through the guild hall. It always made Natsu a bit nervous considering she would constantly be running into things, but Happy did a good job moving things out of the way, and clearing a path for her. But just as he did that, the blue cat had a tendency to fly up in the air so that he wouldn't get tagged. The act would make Layla angry after a while, but she did enjoy trying to jump up to grab the flying cat out of the air. As the girl continued to play around, she would slowly get tired until she once again needed to lay down for a nap, and eventually for the night as Natsu carried his exhausted daughter home, his close friend Happy flying above him. On nights like this Layla would usually end up sleeping through diner, all the way until the next morning. So Natsu would just put her right to bed the second they got home. Then get some food for himself and Happy. After that they would sit around and do whatever they felt like, usually involving cleaning up after Layla or sleeping.


	11. Merry Christmas

"Daddy look! It's snowing!" Layla pointed towards the window as she pulled on Natsu's pant leg. The fire mage looked out the window and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Again?" Natsu looked at the sweater that he had been about to pack away in Layla's dresser. "Well it looks like we'll be needing this after all." He closed the drawer and pulled the small blonde girl towards him and into a big hug. He used the opportunity to pull the sweater over Layla's head and put her arms through the sleeves.

"Daddy that tickled!" Layla giggled.

Natsu patted the top of his daughters head before heading towards the door, Layla following close behind. "Why don't you put your boots on now sweet heart?" Layla nodded and grabbed her little pink snow boots. She sat down on the floor and began to work her feet into them while Natsu snatched her jacket and his own off of the hooks. After helping Layla put on her coat and button it up, Natsu put on his own. "Hat?"

"Check!" Layla said, putting her hands on top of the white knit hat that covered her head.

"Scarf?"

"Check!" She pulled the end of the scarf up.

"Mittens?"

"Double check!" Layla held her hands up to show Natsu that both of her hands were covered in the warm mittens.

"Then we're ready to go!" Natsu cheered and took Layla's hand in his own before opening the door. Immediately a cold blast of air hit his face. Natsu pulled his own scarf up with his free hand to cover his chin better. He let out a puff of hot air before closing the door. He pulled Layla closer to him as he began to walk the both of them to Fairy Tail.

When the father daughter pair finally made it to the guild Natsu shook as much of the snow off of Layla as he could before taking off her coat, scarf, mittens, and hat. He had her take off her boots as well and leave them by the door in order to keep her from slipping in a puddle.

"Wanna go get some hot chocolate Layla?" Natsu leaned down to face Layla better. He rubbed her bright pink face with his hand in order to help warm her up some. He blew out small puffs of fire into her hands to heat up her fingers so they were no longer frozen.

"Yep!" The little blonde jumped up and down before latching onto Natsu's leg and letting him practically drag her to the bar. She loved feeling the warmth of her father, especially in the cold winters. Natsu was like one big heater and was always more than enough to warm Layla up, even with just one hug. As Layla held onto Natsu's leg, she took in as much of that heat as she could, snuggling her face up against the fabric of his pants and enjoying his mixed scent of fire wood and the smoked fish from the diner they had last night. As strange of a scent as it was, Layla loved it to no end.

When the two had made it all the way to the bar, Natsu lifted Layla up and placed her in his lap as he sat down on one of the bar stools. He pulled her as close as he could in order to warm her up in his lap more. "Hey there Mira." He said as the white haired girl approached the two.

"Hello. I see you were able to make it despite the snow." She smiled at them. "So what can I get for you?"

"Go ahead and ask for what you want Layla." Natsu urged Layla.

"One hot chocolate pleathe!" Layla asked excitedly.

"One hot coco coming right up." Mira said before leaving to get Layla's drink ready.

As she left a small cry began to sound through the guild. Natsu turned to see Gray holding his own daughter Shana. The ice mage held the small baby tightly and walked back and forth trying to calm the infant down.

"Oi Gray! It's snowing again!" Natsu called across the guild hall in the most annoyed manner he could manage. He wanted to make it clear that he was getting pretty angry because of the freezing weather.

"You think I don't know that?" Gray hissed as he made his way closer to the bar. Once he got close enough to talk in a quieter voice he spoke once more. "I'm trying to keep her quiet. You should know better than anyone else here that kids cry none stop."

"Daddy did I cry a lot?" Layla looked up at her father.

"Yep." Natsu replied bluntly and without delay. "You would always cry when you found out that you were alone, or when you were cold, or hungry, or tired, or when you just felt like crying." Natsu responded, remembering all of the nights he had been kept up because of the baby Layla's crying. "But either way, it's been snowing on and off like some sort of freak storm."

"Juvia is sorry." The water mage came out of nowhere, spooking both of the males a bit. "It's Juvia's fault."

"Nothing is your fault." Gray said reassuringly. "It's December, snow is normal."

"Yes but Shana inherited Juvia's rain. Only this time it is snow." Juvia had a saddened look on her face. Since Shana had been born, everyone had discovered that whenever the little baby cried it would start snowing out. The harder she cried the harder the snow would fall. Juvia had begun blaming herself for this, and everyone in the guild had tried to convince her that no one was blaming her. In fact, everyone had made a bit of a joke out of it.

"There's nothing to worry about." Gray handed Shana to Juvia so that the baby could be with her mother. The moment Juvia wrapped her arms around the small girl, she stopped crying. The snow stopping as well. "How come she stops when you hold her?" The ice mage half whined.

"Kids tend to be better behaved around the adult they spend the most time with." Mirajane came up from the other side of the bar with Layla's drink. She placed it carefully on the counter in front of the 3 year old. Layla had her own set of smaller cups because the adult sized ones were too big for her. They looked exactly like the ceramic mugs and glasses that the other guild members used, only they were child sized and easy for her to wrap her littler hands around. "Be careful. It's hot." Mira warned.

Layla nodded her head as she wrapped her hands around the cup. "It's warm." She grinned and slowly lifted the cup up to take a sip.

"Don't burn yourself sweet heart." Natsu said cautiously. He helped Layla to hold the cup and put it back down on the counter. "Is it hot?" Being a fire mage, and a dragon slayer at that, Natsu could never tell if something was considered too hot for the average person. He was pretty good at figuring it out so far, but he was always careful with Layla just in case.

"Silly Daddy. It's hot chocolate. Of course it ish hot." Layla giggled before taking another sip from the cup. Once she was done with her drink Natsu let her down to run around the guild. She would usually go to play with Wendy. Sometimes Loki would appear to take care of her as well. From the bar Natsu was always able to keep Layla just barely in view out of the corner of his eye. Even though he knew that the guild was a safe place for her, he always found himself watching her like a hawk, ready to swoop in at any given moment. Of course he knew she was able to move around freely and on her own, that little fatherly instinct of his, combined with his anime instinct, always had him watching her, even when talking with the other guild members.

"So are you guys coming to the Christmas party?" Mirajane asked small group of proud parents.

"We plan to." Gray nodded. "It'll be our first Christmas with Shana. But I don't know if we'll stay really late or not."

"What about you Natsu?" Lisanna asked as she swooped around to join the conversation. Usually she wasn't too far off from her sister so it wasn't strange that she would suddenly jump into a conversation at any given point. Although Lisanna would never admit it, she loved eaves dropping on other people's conversations, just like her older She-devil sister.

"I'll be there for sure!" Natsu grinned. "I've already sent me and Layla's letters to Santa Clause and went shopping around for a gift for Layla."

"Santa? Are you kidding me?" Gray scoffed. "What kind of idiot flame brain still believes in Santa?"

"Santa's real! He's brought me a present every year since I joined the guild!" Natsu jumped up to defend his childish beliefs.

"He's a fat man in red clothes who sneaks into people's houses at night!" Gray yelled as if accepting some form of challenge from the hot headed pinkette.

"At least he can remember to wear clothes you freaking stripper!" Natsu yelled back.

"Whoa! Where did my clothes go!?" Gray looked down in honest confusion after realizing that he was wearing nothing but his long boxers. He looked around the bar area for his pants and shirt, ignoring the snarls and laughter from the pink haired idiot who was still sitting by the bar. After finally locating his clothing and quickly pulling them on, he felt a tug on his pants. When he looked down he saw Layla, looking up at him with teary eyes.

"Santy's real, right?" The young blonde girl starred up at Gray as if she was about to cry.

In a panic, Gray began to try to explain how Santa Clause was real and how he had just been joking around, before Natsu picked her up and held her close, hissing at Gray for upsetting his daughter. Although anyone who had heard the little argument knew that Natsu was probably more hurt about the possibility of no Santa than Layla was.

~*~*~Christmas Day~*~*~ (Merry Christmas by the way)

Everyone in Fairy Tail was gathered at the guild for the holiday. They had all worked to put up and decorate a large tree the day before, and presents had piled up underneath right away. Now the lite up fir was surrounded by brightly wrapped gifts, some neatly wrapped others not so much. After enjoying mountains of food and drinks, both alcoholic and not, all of the guild members were beginning to gather around the tree for present time. Layla sat happily in Natsu's lap, wearing a red and white dress and Santa hat that made it look as if she was one of Santa's elves. Master Makarov, who had insisted on dressing up like Santa Clause, passed out the gifts to everyone.

Some people had received nice gifts from their friends, Mira had given Cana a jug of her favorite liquor, Wendy gave Levy a rare book on the history of sky magic, and Happy was still chasing after Charle trying to give her a fish with a red ribbon tied around it. Of course there were some gifts that were rather odd, the strangest of all being the large pile of anonymously left Christmas socks. No one knew who they were from, but every member had received a pair.

After receiving her new toys, including dolls, building blocks, coloring books, and new clothes, Layla climbed her way out of her father's legs and crawled her way over to the tree. She disappeared behind the pile of discarded wrapping paper, but soon came crawling back out with a pile of papers in her hands.

"What do ya got there Layla baby?" Natsu asked, watching the blond girl scramble to her feet, being careful not to drop he papers.

Layla giggled to herself and let out a large grin before running around and giving one piece of paper to each member of the guild. She finally made it around the large circle back to her dad and handed him the last piece of paper in her hands. "Merry Christhmas Daddy!" She grinned.

Natsu studied the piece of paper she had given him. On it was a crayon drawing on two stick figures in front of what looked like a Christmas tree. One of the figures was a lot taller than the other. The taller one had a black line around its neck, like a scarf, and pink spikes coming out of its head, while the other has a pink triangular dress and yellow lines for hair. Each had very cartoon-like smiles. Arrows pointed to each one, labeling them both. The one pointing to the tall figure was labeled as 'Daddy' while the shorter one was 'Me'. At the top of the page the words 'Mary Kristhmas' was written at the top. Natsu looked at the picture and laughed before pulling Layla towards him and kissing her forehead. "Thank you sweet heart. I love it."

Layla giggled and crawled back into her father's lap. Not too long after she did, she fell asleep. Clearly exhausted by the excitement of the holiday. Natsu continued to chat with the other guild members until people started leaving. After storing all of the presents in a closet in the guild, in order to bring them home the next day, Natsu left, carrying Layla on his back, followed by a slightly drunk looing Happy flying above head. Natsu had no idea what the blue cat had gotten into, but he knew enough not to bother the tom cat about it. Instead he focused all of his attention on the sleeping Layla. She had been so sound asleep that she didn't even wake up as Natsu changed her into her PJ's and carried her to his bed. He tucked her in under his covers before looking around the house for some tape. After finally finding a roll, Natsu pulled out the folded up picture Layla had given him from his pocket and hung it up on the wall by his bed. He laughed to himself a bit before kissing Layla's forehead once more than laying down next to her.

"Merry Christmas love."


	12. Wedding Day

Juvia happily stood practically above Shana. The small blue haired child was holding onto Juvia's two pointer fingers, one in each hand. Anyone could see that the little girl was barely standing, and that if it weren't for her hold on her mother's hands, she would have fallen on her face before she even got to her feet. But now she was enjoying the feeling of exploring the guild on her feet for a change. Juvia happily lead her daughter across the smooth floor.

Shana seemed to be the perfect combination of both of her parents. Her hair was the same dark blue, if not black, color, like Gray's, and she had the same eyes as Juvia. Although most people in the guild claimed she looked most like her mother, particularly in face shape and the paleness of her skin, Gray found a lot of pride in claiming she looked just like him. As far as children go, Shana was very quiet. She didn't make much noise, and aside from the snow flurries that occurred when she cried, she was rather plain. The light yellow dress she was wearing did bring some more color to her though.

Layla had found her own fun in standing on top of Natsu's feet as he walked. She giggled while trying to keep her balance on her father's shoes. Natsu took large stomps around the table area. "RAWR! I'm a dragon beast!"

"Kyaa!" Layla screamed in delight as she hoped off of Natsu's feet and turned to ran away, only to be swept into the arm by two large arms. Natsu tossed her into the air before flinging her over her shoulder so that she was bent over his shoulder, holding her as if she were a sack of flour.

"Huh? Where did Layla go?" Natsu joked, spinning around as if to look for the blonde girl.

"I'm right here Daddy!" Layla laughed.

"What are you doing up there?" The fire mage slowly lifted Layla off of his shoulder and placed her on the ground. He squatted down to straighten out her dress. "Now remember," He began in a rather serious manner. "Today's a big day so you have to be able to sit still for a long time. You also have to be nice and quiet. Got it?"

"Aye!" Layla cheered happily. She grabbed onto her father's hand as he got up and lead her outside to the back of the guild.

The back garden was currently filled with flowers, mainly white roses. White fold out chairs were placed around a beautifully decorated altar. A stepping stone pathway lead right up to the altar, and was covered in little flower petals. Many of the guild members were already outside, dressed in suits and fancy dresses. Loki was there as well and approached the father daughter pair the moment he saw them.

"Thanks for watching her during this." Natsu said as he handed Layla off to the spirit.

"No worries Natsu." Loki nodded. Although he was dresses in his usual suit and tie, the lack of sun glasses made it look more formal. "You look very pretty today Layla." He said, diverting his attention to the girl. Layla giggled as she admired the long light blue dress with a black ribbon around the waist. Her hair was left flat like it normally was and held in place by a black headband. The fairy necklace Natsu had given her hung low seeing as the chain was still very long compared to her. She gave her father a quick hug before he had to run off, leaving her with the lion spirit.

Natsu ran through the crowd towards where the altar was and quickly found the group of males he has been looking for. Specifically the long haired iron dragon slayer. "Hey there Gajeel." He said, patting the older males back. "Look who lucked out with the weather."

"Shut up Salamander." Gajeel muttered, fixing his tie in the process. Although it was clear he was trying to sound tough, anyone could see how his face was a tad bit red.

"You couldn't ditch the scarf for even a day?" Gray joked. He had been standing next to Gajeel and talking with him.

"No way! And let everyone see my embarrassing scar?" Natsu clasped his hands around his scarf as if to prove a point. "Besides, it's not like it matters what I look like. No one pays attention to the best man. It's all up to this guy to look all handsome." Natsu pointed to Gajeel.

"I don't look weird, do I?" Gajeel asked the two. He looked over his grey tuxedo. He wasn't used to wearing such constricting clothes.

"You look fine. Better then I looked on my wedding day." Gray shrugged.

"You probably weren't even wearing a shirt Gray. I don't think your point is all that valid." Erza butted in.

"Either way." Gray shrugged.

"You're looking nice Erza." Natsu said. Erza was dresses in a long dress that had a deep purple coloring to it.

"Thanks Natsu. I saw Layla earlier. She looked beautiful. Shana too." Erza said simply, allowing the two fathers a moment of pride. "We're gonna start up soon, so start getting into place. Ok?" The red haired women then walked off, leaving the guys to sort themselves out.

"For some reason this is a bit nerve racking." Gajeel said as he made his way towards his spot by the altar. Pantherlily and Happy both flew up to his head and gave him a quick reassuring pat before standing on either side of the altar. They picked up one of the pillows that had been rested there, each with a ring placed in the center.

"Completely understandable." Natsu said, giving him a playful push before standing right beside the iron eating mage. "But right now you need to suck it up and save the flutters for the bride."

"I really don't want to hear that kind of advice from you for some reason." The mage mumbled in response.

"Just try and be a bit patient with me." Master Makarov walked up to them and hoped on top of the altar. Even he was dressed in a nice suit. "Ok every one!" He called out. "Please take your seats!"

"Good luck Gajeel." Lily said, earning nothing but a nod in return.

Natsu briefly waved towards Layla who sat towards the back, next to Loki. He watched as everyone began to quiet down in their seats. Wendy was sitting happily with Shana in her lap, taking care of the girl just as Loki was doing for Layla. Makarov said a one or two more words about everyone being patient. Then the music started. All of the guild members stood up and turned to look at the end of the isle. The bride's maids, Erza, Mirajane, Lisanna, and Juvia, made their way down to aisle to stand by the alter. Then everyone turned to see the bride at the other end.

Levy's dress was long, white, and gorgeous. It was strapless, to show off her shoulders, with sparkling diamond like beads lining the rim and spread out like stars across the skirt. The long veil went half way down her back and casted a silvery shine over her wavy blue hair. She held a beautiful bouquet of little white and blue flowers, one large white lily standing out from the rest.

Reedus was the one leading Levy down the aisle. When the two finally made it to the end, he gave her a brief kiss on the hand before leaving to sit down. Levy stood in front of Gajeel, looking up at him with a large blush and a smile.

"You look beautiful." Gajeel whispered. Levy seemed to be surprised at the comment, as if she hadn't expected him to say anything. Her smile grew bigger as all she could manage was a slight nod. The young couple turned towards the altar and faced the Master.

"Friends, comrades, and loved ones," The Master began. His voice easily carried over the whole guild. "We gathered here for a great occasion. To bond our fellow guild mates, Levy and Gajeel, together forever. Marriage is a joyous moment, and it is an honor, as guild master of Fairy Tail, and seeing both of them as my children, to be able to bond them together eternally. We all stand here for those who are our comrades. For those who are here, and for those who are not." There was a brief shadow across everyone's face, the same thought being shared among all of them. When the Master had mentioned someone who wasn't there, they all knew who he was referring to. There was an understanding that Lucy should have been there. No doubt she would have been the maid of honor. She was Levy's best friend. Her missing this was hard on everyone. "Before we go any further, is there anyone present who believes that these two should be married?" During the pause, everyone in the guild shot Jet and Droy death glares. The two had received many threats about this one moment. But, before either of them would have been able to even open their mouths, Master Makarov began again. "Wonderful. I doubt anyone one would want to ruin this beautiful day by speaking up anyways." Levy giggled briefly, knowing that her team mates were probably tearing up as we speak. The Master went on through his long speech, then directed the two to turn towards each other to state their vows.

Gajeel took Levy's hands in his, as he had been instructed. "I know that we didn't exactly meet on good terms. I know that you had absolutely no reason to forgive me for what I've done. But you forgave me, and have stood by me since I joined the guild. You've always said that you're small, week, little. So I promise that I'll always be there for you, so you don't have to feel small ever again." Gajeel picked up the ring from the pillow that Pantherlily had been holding. He then held Levy's left hand and slowly placed the ring on her finger. He rubbed over the top of her fingers with his thumb for a moment longer while he whispered the end of his vows to her. "I swear I'll take care of you forever. So just bear with me a bit."

Levy smiled at the iron mage and nodded. "There are many things about myself that I always wanted to change. I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be better. But then you came into my life. While it was a bit rough at first, I began feeling like you brought out the best in me, and I always hoped that I did the same for you. You used to seem so alone, like there was nothing about the world that you wanted to be a part of. So I'll always be there with you. That way you'll never have to feel like you're alone ever again." She took the ring from Happy and held onto Gajeel's hands with her own. Sliding the ring onto his finger and whispering a comment on her own. "Your hands are a lot bigger than mine. And I trust them with my life. I don't care what happened in the past, you're here now." Levy smiled sweetly up at Gajeel, her face dusted over in a blush and her eyes watering with tears of joy.

"Gajeel Redfox." The Master said seriously, butting into the sweet moment. "Do you here by take Levy McGarden as your wife, to protect with your life, to love and to hold, in sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?" Master asked with all seriousness.

"I do." Gajeel flashed a large grin towards the blue haired girl.

"Levy McGarden. Do you here by take Gajeel Redfox as your husband, to protect with your live, to love and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do." Levy smiled.

"Then as the guild master of Fairy Tail, and one of the Ten Wizard Saints, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Makarov grinned as well. "Gajeel, you may now kiss the bride."

Gajeel held Levy's chin with one hand as he swooped down to kiss her hard on the lips. The newly made bride wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him harder into the kiss. The other members of the guild stood up and began to clap and cheer on the couple. The two separated for a moment and looked into each other's eyes .

"Levy, I love you." Gajeel whispered into her ear.

"Mhm." Levy nodded and whipped her eyes. The tears she had been holding back were now poring over and rolling down her cheeks. "I love you too Gajeel."

"Shall we then?" Gajeel turned towards the aisle and offered his arm for his new wife to hold onto. Levy happily wrapped her arm around Gajeel's and the two made their way down the aisle. As they passed their fellow guild mates, the amount of times they heard congratulations was enough to last a life time. The bride's maids and the best men (Natsu and Gray) followed after them as they made their way inside of the guild hall for the reception.

All of the tables had been pushed away from the stage in order to make a dance floor. Instead of Mirajane running the bar, they had hired bar tenders. There was a magic orchestra that was able to play absolutely any song. And a whole buffet was set up filled with piles of food. Natsu waited by the door for Layla to come in with Loki.

"Hey there Princess." Natsu said, getting a big hug from his daughter. "I saw you being really good during the wedding."

"Yep!" Layla grinned. "Loki said I was really really good too!"

"That's good." Natsu said a quick thank you to Loki before the spirit disappeared into the crowd to mingle with the others. "Hey Layla, wanna go find Gajeel and Levy?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" The two began to search for the newlyweds. When they had finally found them, the two looked as if they were getting person after person coming up to them. Layla had managed to slip away from Natsu and ran up to Levy, giving her a big hug.

"Awn. Hey there Layla." The mage leaned down to hug the small girl back. "What did you think?"

"You look really really really pretty Levy." Layla smiled. "And so do all of the flowers, and the other girls, but you look the best!"

"Thank you so much." Levy laughed.

"Good job up there Gajeel." Natsu said, patting his fellow dragon slayer on the shoulder.

"What, you think I'd screw it up?" The proud man scoffed.

"Well that doesn't really matter." Erza said. She had been standing and talking with Levy before Layla had ran up. "What does matter is that you two take the first dance already."

Gajeel and Levy exchanged a quick glance before Gajeel reached his hand down to take Levy's in his. "Would you like to dance?" He asked.

"You know, that's the first time you've actually asked." Levy chuckled before following him to the center of the dance floor. The band began playing a sweet slow song as the couple began their first dance. After a minute of everyone watching the pair dancing, others began to join in.

"Wanna dance Layla?" Natsu asked.

"Can we?" The blonde girl looked up at her father with bright brown eyes.

"Of course." Natsu lead Layla to the dance floor. "Now I'll hold your hand like this, and then hold your waist like this, and since you can't reach my shoulder, you can just hold my legs this." Natsu instructed Layla, although he had to bend over himself, he placed her hands where they should go. "Then we move like this." He then began moving from side to side, watching in amusement as Layla tried to follow along.

After a few songs, Natsu left Layla with Loki once more, then made his way onto the microphone on the stage. "Hey guys. Shut it for a bit." He said, getting everybody's attention. "So first of all, I think we can all say a clear congratulations to Levy and Gajeel. As the best man, I've just got a few things to say, then we can get back to partying and having fun. As we all know, I don't particularly get along with Gajeel, but that doesn't mean he's not a good guy. We didn't exactly meet on good grounds, and I don't actually remembering ever getting to be on good grounds with this guy since I've known him, but I've known Levy for as long as I can remember. I know that those two are great for each other. So if it means anything, which I highly doubt it would, I'd give my blessing. But that doesn't really matter. We all know that there's someone missing here today, and we all know that she would have loved to be here, but that just means we're gonna have to have fun for her. So once again, congratulations to the happy couple, and I hope to see a child named after me in the future." Gajeel yelled 'Hell no' from where he stood in the crowd before everyone toasted to the happy couple.

After some more dancing, Natsu made plates for both him and Layla, then went to go sit down at the table with Levy, Gajeel, Erza, Gray, Juvia (with Shana), Lisanna, and Mira. The group sat happily and chatted while eating.

"Hey, look at that." Lisanna said, pointing off to the dance floor. Everyone at the table turned to see Romeo and Wendy slow dancing together. The sky mages head was rested against Romeo's shoulder, while said boys arms were wrapped around the small girl's waist.

"Whoa." Gray muttered. "Where did that come from?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Lisanna added, still staring at the teens.

"Aren't the two of them 15? It's kind of normal isn't it?" Mira asked. "And besides, in case I accidently saw wrong, weren't you and Laxus doing something very similar earlier?"

"Ppppppfff." Natsu spit his drink out. "What?!"

"How did you know about that?" Lisanna whispered.

"Well, you know." Mirajane held her hand in front of her mouth and chuckled. When it came to things like this, Mira was usually the one who set it up, so it's not that hard to believe that she knew about everything too.

"Geez Lisanna. I didn't know you and Laxus were THAT close." Levy joked.

"It was just one dance!" Lisanna complained.

"You mean you don't feel anything for him?" Erza asked.

"W-what? N-not really. I just, it's just…..grrrr." Lisanna sat down in her seat.

Layla looked up at Lisanna after hearing the conversation. "Lisanna and Laxus sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-mmmmm" Natsu covered the little girls mouth with his hand before she could finish.

"Huh. I, uh, wonder who taught her that." The fire mage said.

"Natsu! Are you kidding me!" Lisanna yelled. "Don't go teaching her weird stuff!"

"Lighten up." Gray chuckled.

"Besides, if I remember properly, you used to sing that when you were little too." Mirajane laughed at the memory.

"Aaahhhh. I'm leaving." Lisanna got up and left the table, heading towards the bar.

"Say hi to Laxus for me!" Gajeel called as the white haired girl left, earning a playful nudge from Levy.

"Hey Mira, it just occurred to me, but weren't you awfully close with Fried earlier?" Juvia asked.

"Ah. So I've been caught." She admitted easily, placing one hand on her cheek. "He's just so sweet, but he doesn't really want to advertise it."

"Don't you think Elfman is gonna be kinda pissed when he finds out about both Fried and Laxus?" Levy added in.

"Doesn't he have Evergreen?" Natsu pointed out. "I thought those two were actually gonna go somewhere."

"I don't think so." Gray said.

"Yeah, those two just argue a lot." Gajeel pulled Levy out of her seat and onto his lap.

"H-hey!" The blue haired mage rebutted. She blushed a bit when Gray whistled at the pair. But after a kiss on the cheek, she simply laughed before settling into the lap.

"So as I was saying," Gajeel rested his chin on Levy's shoulder. "Those two do nothing but fight. It's not going anywhere for those two."

"I wonder if Lisanna is really with Laxus." Natsu muttered. At some point in the conversation, Layla had pulled him up out of his seat and tried to get him to teach her how to dance again.

"Why do you want to know?" Erza asked, trying to hold back slight laughter at the sight.

"Just curious." The fire mage shrugged.

"Since when did you get so good at dancing?" Mira asked.

"Hm? Dunno." Natsu took a moment to think about it. "Lucy kept trying to teach me over and over again. I guess it just sort of stuck."

"Lucy is mommy right?" Layla asked, not looking up from her feet as she tried to watch where she stepped.

"Yeah." Natsu said."

"You know Layla, you look a lot like your mother." Levy smile said, getting the blonde girls attention.

"Really?" Layla seemed very excited at this.

"I've been thinking that too." Erza nodded in agreement. "Although, you have that little pink stain in your hair."

Layla fiddled with the little pink lock of hair in her bangs. "Daddy says it's a hair birthmark."

"Those exist?" Gray commented. He began looking towards Shana as if to see if she had one.

"Yeah. Lucy had one too." Natsu said. "It was a tiny little stand of brown hair on the back of her neck."

"Really?" Levy thought about it some. "I never noticed it before."

"I didn't find it until I was helping her clean some flour out of her hair." Natsu shrugged.

"What were you two doing with flour?" Mira chuckled.

"Baking."

"Huh. That's surprisingly normal." Gray joked. "I expected some sort of flour fight."

"Well, that sort of was the outcome." Natsu scratched the back of his head.

"Speaking of cake, you two need to go cut yours." Erza reminded Levy and Gajeel.

"Wanna go do that now?" Levy said excitedly.

"Sure. Let's go." Mira got up from her seat and made her way over to the large wedding cake.

When seeing the couple make their way towards the large pastry, many of the other party goers followed. By the time they had gotten to it, there was a large crowd. After waiting a bit, Gajeel turned his hand into a cake knife, causing Levy to laugh before taking his wrist in her hands and cutting out the first slice of cake. The people around them clapped some, before everyone began peeling away, their own slices in hand.

The night ended rather wonderfully. Levy had tossed her bouquet at the very end, which was then caught by Lisanna, who then proceeded to blush as her sister teased her more about Laxus. At the very end, Levy and Gajeel said their 'thank you's and 'good night's before skipping off for the night. Layla had asked several times where they had gone, to which Natsu just said that they had gone home, gaining some smirks from the others in the guild. Droy and Jet had apparently been crying in a corner almost the whole night, and were finally dragging themselves away while everyone cleared out. Loki had already gone back to the spirit world as well.

"That was a lot of fun." Layla smiled as she and Natsu made their way home.

"Weddings are like that." Natsu said.

"Did you and mommy and a pretty wedding too?" She asked, curiosity taking its course.

"No." Natsu admitted. "We never got married."

"But don't you need to be married in order to have kids?"

"Who told you that?" Natsu said, stopping for a moment.

"Loki did."

"Remind me to thank him next time I see him." Natsu made a mental note to himself as well. "And you don't actually need to be married. But most people are."

"Why do people get married?" Layla asked.

"Well, when you want to spend your whole life with the person you love, and they want to spend their whole life with you, you get married." Natsu tried to explain it as easily as possible.

"So, did you not want to be together with mommy forever?" Layla looked up at her father with a bit of a sad look in her eyes.

Natsu let out a sigh and kneeled down before Layla. He pulled her into a hug. "There's one thing I want you to know. I loved your mother more than anything in the world. I was going to ask her to marry me after you were born. But then something happened."

"What happened?"

Natsu felt himself trembling a bit. He knew he would have to tell Layla sometime, but he didn't she's want to know. She wasn't even four years old yet. But he figured that he might as well tell her now. He was getting the opportunity after all. Natsu pulled away a bit and rested his hands on Layla's shoulders. "Well. There was an accident at the hospital on the day you were born. And. Well. We all looked for her. But no one ever found her. She's been missing ever since." Natsu said.

"Daddy." Layla said.

"What is it?" Natsu cleared his throat.

"You said you loved mommy more than anything in the world right?"

"Yeah." Natsu chuckled." What about it?"

"What about me?" Layla coxed her head to the side.

Natsu laughed at the girl's question. He pulled her into another hug. "You are my world sweetie pie." He then proceeded to pick the girl up. "No come on, it's getting late and you need a bath." He chuckled.

"Aye sir!"


	13. Rainy Days

Natsu stuck his hand out the door and immediately felt drops of rain pound against his skin. He took his hand back, drying it off of his pant leg, before shutting the door quickly. He turned towards Layla who stood, staring at him in anticipation. Natsu crossed his arms over his head, making an X shape. "Bzzt. Bzzt. We're not going out today." He silently cursed Happy for making the smart decision of leaving an hour before them.

"But if we don't go to Fairy Tail, then what will we do?" Layla asked. She fallowed her father to the couch, and when he sat down, she climbed into his lap.

"Well. We can play games, draw pictures, take a nap, read a book, take a nap…." Natsu listed their options.

"Daddy. You said take a nap twice." The small blonde girl giggled. "You must be really tired Daddy."

"Aye. Well, I've been going on a lot of missions lately." Natsu said rather lazily. He wrapped his arms around Layla then flung the two of them to the side so that they were both lying down on the couch. Natsu's large arms entrapped the 3 year old so that she couldn't escape him.

"DADDY! Let go!" The little blonde struggled to try and push her father's arms off of her, scrambling under the weight of the large arm.

"No." The fire mage smirked as he pulled the child towards him. He heard a funny sounding grumble come from the little girl before she finally stopped squirming and relaxed in his arms. Natsu snuggled Layla closer to him, wrapping his arms more fully around her. Everyone in the guild always said that Layla's body was really warm, not that Natsu could ever tell. But now he enjoyed the warmth of her tiny body pressed against his. With her so close, he was able to breath in her scent. It was a sweet mix of honey and berries that so closely resembled her mothers. Natsu let out a slight chuckle when he realized that Layla had fallen asleep in his arms. The girl was always tiring herself out. It wasn't long though before Natsu drifted off as well.

When he woke up a few hours later, Layla had managed to wiggle her way out of his arms and sit on top of him.

"Wake up! Wake up!" She yelled, kicking her legs against Natsu's sides.

"I'm up." The male mumbled as he pushed himself off of the comfortable couch. He let out a large yawn, showing off his fang like teeth. "What's up sweetie pie?"

Layla climbed off of her father and stood in front of him. She rested her head on his knees and looked up at him with a large smile. "Let's play Daddy!"

"You bet." Natsu patted the top of her head. "What do you want to play?"

Instead of answering, Layla grabbed onto Natsu's hand with both of hers and tugged on it. When her dad stood up, she began pulling him off towards her room. Natsu happily followed. When the two reached the pink covered bed room, Layla dropped her father's hand and ran over to the toy box that was tucked into the corner. She dug through it, clearly searching for something, before finally pulling out a box of miscellaneous animal figures, then reaching back in and taking out a bunch of building blocks. Once everything was placed of the floor, she fell to her knees and began digging through the box of animals. Natsu came up to her and sat across from her and began stacking the blocks on top of each other.

"Look, I made a castle." Natsu showed his colorful structure off, taking pride in his creation.

"Wow!" Layla looked at the wooded block castle in amazement. She then took out a little toy cat and put it on top of the castle. Then she placed a dragon in front of the castle, facing a lion. "The kitty is the princess and the lion is the hero who's gonna save the princess from the evil dragon." She explained.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Why is the dragon the bad guy?" Natsu pointed to the red plastic toy. "I'm a dragon, and you don't see me kidnapping princesses. Wendy doesn't do it either, and neither does Gajeel or Laxus."

Layla took a moment to think about it before switching the lion and the dragon. "Then the lion is the meany and the dragon is the hero."

"Ok." Natsu nodded in agreement. Then he grabbed onto the plastic dragon. "Don't worry Princess Kitty. I'll save you." He said, creating the voice for the dragon.

"Layla kneeled to grab onto the cat to do the same. "Help me! Help me!"

The two continued playing. Natsu, as the dragon, fought Layla who took over as the lion. After a several fighting sound effects and clashing the toys together, as well as knocking over several of locks on the castle, the dragon was able to beat the lion and save the cat. Surprisingly, it had taken a long time. Layla refused to let the lion be defeated easily and had set the rule that the lion had twenty lives after Natsu had beaten it the first time. After unwillingly complying to this alteration, Natsu and the little plastic dragon were forced to beat the toy lion nineteen more times.

After playing their little game, Natsu saw that it had already gotten close to lunch time. He picked Layla up and went downstairs. After laying out paper and crayons, he went to the kitchen to make lunch. He searched through the cabinets and saw that they were starting to get close to empty again. The fire mage made a mental note to himself to go to the market soon, but decided to write it down instead, knowing he would probably forget later. In the refrigerator he found a large fish which he then threw onto a frying pan that he just placed on top of the counter. He continued going through the cabinets and brought out some crackers and apples, which he then sliced. He placed them onto two placed, making sure the portions were close to the same. Then he went back to the fish. Natsu blew puffs of fire at the fish, making sure to flip it in order to get both sides done. Once the fish was cooked to his liking, while avoiding being burnt, he began cutting it off of the bones and put the chunks on the plates with the crackers and fruit. He carried the plates to the table and put them down, then went back to the kitchen to pour one cup of water and one cup of juice.

"Layla! Lunch time!" Natsu celled once everything was on the table.

Getting Layla to come to the table was never a problem. Whenever she heard her father call, especially if it was food related, she would hurry over to him. So of course she dropped her crayons and ran across the room to the table when she was called. The two sat down in their respective chairs, Layla in her booster seat, and ate happily. Layla showed to particularly enjoy the crackers, so much so that she reached as far as she could across the table and took some off of Natsu's plate. Like her father, she enjoyed slightly overcooked food, that however was most likely because Natsu had the habit of burning meat and fish.

Once they were done, Natsu quickly tossed the dishes in the sink the scooped up Layla and hung her over his shoulder. "Time for a bath." He said over the giggles coming from the little blonde. He carried her up the stairs and to the bathroom before finally setting her back down on the ground. Natsu went over to the bathtub and turned on the water. He made sure it was at a reasonably warm temperature before turning his attention back to Layla. "Time to take those clothes off." He said.

"Okay!" Layla cheered with one hand in the air.

Natsu chuckled as he pulled the girls shirt over her head and helped her step out of her shorts.

"Can Daddy take a bath with me?" Layla asked.

"Hmmm." Natsu took a minute to think about it. "Ok. But I'm going to put on a bathing suit. So you sit here and use the toilet and wait for me to come back before you get in. Got it?"

"Yep yep!" Layla smiled at her father. As he left the bathroom. She sat on the toilet, kicking her legs, and waited for her father to come back.

When Natsu came back into the bathroom he carefully helped Layla into the tub before climbing in himself. He picked up the bar of soap and began lathering the little child with soap.

"Hey Daddy. Are Levy and Gajeel having a baby?" The blonde asked.

"I think so." Natsu answered. "It's been a few months since they got married so I'd be surprised if they weren't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, after a man and women get married, they usually start waiting for the baby right after their honeymoon." Natsu explained. He had a feeling where this conversation was gonna go, and he was preparing himself by trying to think up an answer to the lingering question he knew would come up sooner or later. He began rinsing off the soap from Layla's arms and chest, then he turned her around so that her back was facing him.

"How do they know to start waiting for the baby?"

"Cause the mothers belly will start growing." With a glob of shampoo in his hands, Natsu began to suds up the soft blonde hair, massaging it between his fingers.

"That means the baby is inside right? Just like when Shana was inside of Juvia's tummy?" Layla closed her eyes tightly as Natsu shampooed her head. She used her hands to cover her eyes for extra protection from the shampoo. "How did the baby get there?"

Natsu took a moment to think over his answer while he washed the shampoo out of Layla's hair. "Magic." Natsu decided at last. "There is a certain spell that only couples can use and it puts a baby inside of the girl."

Layla seemed to think about the answer for a minute before nodding, showing her acceptance for the answer. Natsu let out a sigh, mentally thanking the universe that that answer worked. Hopefully that explanation would last long enough that she would be old enough to find out from someone else in the guild. Maybe when she grew up she could ask Mirajane or Erza. Natsu highly doubted that either of those two women would hide the answer from Layla, but her knew they would be the most likely to explain it in a calm enough manner. Natsu didn't want to even think about explaining the actual thing to Layla. Not now and not ever.


	14. Next Generation

Shana and Layla played together every day. With Shana being a little over a year old, she was able to move around on her own. Of course, either Juvia or Gray was always watching over her. It began seeming as if Fairy Tail was filling up with kids once again. With Layla and Shana already present, and Levy waiting on her first born to come with in the month, people began wondering who was next. Many were placing bets to see if it would be Mira and Freed, or Lisanna and Laxus, both of which had become more open about their relationship in the past few months. If asked, Lisanna would probably say that there was nothing 'special' between her and Laxus, but the way the lightning mage seemed to always be around her and watching over her begged to differ.

Another little couple that had been getting quite a bit of attention lately was Wendy and Romeo. Although they were both still very young, being only 15 years old, the fact that they would just skip off on missions together, combined with Macao's complaints about Romeo frequently not coming home until late at night, didn't help their case. Most of the other guild members would tease the two for being so shy about it, but it was mostly just joking around about the whole ordeal.

Freed's relationship with Mira had become a lot for obvious lately. Since a good portion of the guild had figured it out by now, Mira began to find no reason in hiding it. So occasionally she would give the green haired mage hugs, winks, and even go as far as giving him quick kisses over the bar counter. It was easy to see that Freed was rather embarrassed by the blatant displays of his girlfriend's affection, but he never refused any of the interactions. The only person who seemed to complain was Elfman.

"M-mama." Shana said, pulling on Juvia's skirt. She looked up at her with a shy smile on her face.

"Hello Shana." Juvia said, picking up her daughter and holding her on her hip. "Is something wrong?" Instead of responding with words, Shana buried her face in Juvia's shoulder. Her little hands clung onto the fabric of Juvia clothing. "Are you hungry?" Shana nodded against her mother. Smiling, Juvia walked over to the large bag she brought with her to the guild. After digging around inside for a bit, she pulled out a little Tupperware container filled with cheerios. Juvia sat down at the closest table and placed the little plastic box open on the table, shifting Shana to sit in her lap so that the toddler could reach the food.

Layla had followed Juvia and Shana. She had a little lunch box of her own next to Juvia's bag for her own snacks. After pulling out a plastic bag full of assorted berries, the blonde girl kneeled on the bench across from the mother and daughter and began eating her own snack.

"When do you think Daddy will get home?" Layla asked Juvia. Natsu, Gray and Erza had all left to go on a mission a few days ago. Juvia and Gray always switched off on who took missions so that one of them would be home with Shana, but while Natsu was out, Layla would stay over with whoever offered to take care of her. This time around, Juvia had offered to take care of the little blonde girl.

"Juvia thinks that they will be home soon." The water mage responded.

"Papa?" Shana looked up at her mother, head coaxed to the side with a questioning look on her face. Her cheeks were big and round because of the many cheerios she had stuffed in her mouth.

"Yes. Yes. Papa will be home soon." Juvia patted the top of Shana's head. Soon the little black haired girl went back to her food. She the toddler ate, Juvia began fixing the little curly pigtails that kept Shana's hair from falling in her face. Layla starred at her, berry juice spread across her face.

"You're really good at that Juvia." Layla said.

"Thank you Layla. It's only trying her hair up though." Juvia smiled when she had finished, happy with her work.

"Daddy never does that to my hair." The blonde girl began pulling some of her hair forward so that she could look at it. "I don't think he knows how."

"If you like, I could do your hair." The water mages offer sparked a glint in Layla's eyes, who nodded her head excitedly. "Come sit next to Juvia." She patted the spot on the bench next to her. Layla hurriedly ran around the table to sit on the bench next to Juvia. Before Juvia began working on Layla's hair, she used a napkin to quickly wipe away the berry stains on Layla's cheeks. Then she took two hair ties from her wrist and placed them around the palm of her hand. Combing through the blonde locks with her fingers, Juvia admired how soft and well-kept Layla's hair was. It was silky smooth and ran right through her hands, almost never catching because of knots or tangles. After she had finished, Juvia separated the blonde locks into two sections, splitting it evenly down the center of Layla's head. Juvia used the hair ties to tie the hair into two twin pigtails. "There you go."

Layla shot up from her seat, said a quick thank you to Juvia, then ran off to the bar to show Levy and Mirajane.

"You look so cute with your hair like that Layla." Levy giggle when the girl came up to show off the pigtails. The once small solid script mage was now very large around her stomach, and very round. She sat as comfortably as she could on the wooden barstool.

"Very cute indeed." Mirajane complimented. The white haired woman refilled the glass of water in front of Levy. "This wasn't really a problem with Juvia, but you need to make sure to stay hydrated." She instructed.

"I know." Levy let out a chuckle as she took a sip from the ice cold water. "Gajeel keeps doing the same thing."

"Oh? That's awfully thoughtful of him." Mira smiled at the thought of the large male making a fuss over his pregnant wife. It was a weird idea that Mira hadn't thought of before, so she enjoyed playing with it.

"I guess you could call it that." Levy mumbled. Then she let out an uncomfortable groan, which caught Mira's attention.

"Everything alright?" The older woman flashed a worried expression.

"Yeah. It's just that this guy's a hard kicker." Levy grumbled, referring the child in her belly. "I think he's gonna be just about as tough and hard headed as his dad."

Mirajane let out a small laugh, trying to keep in the louder one that threatened to slip out. She quickly turned her attention from Levy to Freed when the green haired boy came up and sat down across from her. "Can I get you anything?" Leaning over the counter top, she smiled at her boyfriend as he gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"I'm perfectly fine." The male responded. "To be honest, Laxus told me to leave."

Mira gave Freed a quick hug over the counter. Everyone knew how much Freed looked up to Laxus, so she knew that being sent away from him was probably hard on the guy. "Why did he do that?" She asked, honestly curious, seeing as Laxus rarely pushed his followers away. Instead of responding, Freed just pointed towards the guild entrance. Mira looked over just in time to see the large blonde leaving the guild with her younger sister half skipping by his side. "Awn. Those two are so cute." The white haired girl held her hands under her chin, fingers crossed in a repeated X. She had one of her signature 'up to no good' grin on her face that tended to scare most guild members.

"Just what are you up to?" Levy asked, fully concerned for Lisanna.

"Oh it's nothing." The white haired woman waved her hand in front of her face.

"Mira, darling," Freed began. "With you, it's never 'nothing'."

"You know me so well." Mira smiled as she poked Freed in the forehead. She was quickly snapped back from her own little realm when she heard another groan escape Levy's mouth. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Um. I think I'm fine." Levy said, she didn't sound too sure about herself though. Clearly no one else believed her either, especially since Gajeel, who until recently was napping on a table not too far away, got up from his spot and came over to check on his expecting wife.

"Wanna go to the hospital?" He asked. Even he looked rather worried.

"Actually. Yeah." Levy nodded. "I think it might be about time."

Gajeel nodded and offered his hand to help Levy off of the bar stool. Mirajane excitedly ran around the bar and tracked down Reedus, asking him to make a carriage to take Levy to the hospital. The transforming mage notified everyone that she was going to help Levy to the hospital before helping the blue haired girl into the carriage. Gajeel opted for running alongside it, not wanting to get motion sick right before the possible birth of his first born.

"Where did Levy and Gajeel and Mira go?" Layla asked Juvia as she watched the carriage pull away from the guild.

"The hospital. Juvia thinks that Levy is going to have her baby soon." Juvia explained to the small girl. She held Shana in her arms as she tried to get her child to fall asleep.

"Will they come back?" Layla followed the mother to one of the small rooms in the back of the guild that had become a nap area for the little girl.

"Maybe in a couple of days. You remember when Juvia had Shana? Juvia came back to the guild 3 days later." The blue haired girl tried to explain it to Layla as she placed Shana on one of the cots that was set up in the room. Placing a blanket over her daughter to keep her warm, and giving her a ghost like doll that she had made for her. Then she turned to Layla and guided her to the other cot on the other side of the room. "You should take a nap too. Natsu doesn't like it when you get too tired." Layla nodded and went over to her own cot. She was old enough to get herself situated under the blankets. Like her father, she fell asleep almost the moment she lay down.

A few days passed and the guild was practically bursting with energy. With Natsu, Gray and Erza back, combined with the newest addition to the guild, there was never a truly quiet moment. The day Levy had left to go to the hospital ended up being the day she gave birth after all. She had a baby boy named Zach. He was bigger than Layla or Shana had been, and was definitely loud. Although there was a running joke going through the guild about who had been louder, Layla or Zach.

Natsu and Gray seemed to be trying to convert Gajeel into the world of a doting father, spending time talking about how amazing their daughters were, and all the life changing moments they had when it came to first words, first steps, and much more. But Gajeel didn't seem too interested. Of course, anyone could tell that the iron dragon slayer was as proud as any other father would have been, but he wasn't very good at dealing with children, and that seemed to through him off.

"I'm really no good at this." Gajeel mumbled as he tried to situate his child in his arms.

"You're doing fine." Levy chuckled. She tried to instruct her husband to hold Zach a certain way. "Now put your arm behind his head. Make sure you don't squeeze him. Relax a bit. And there. It's easy."

Gajeel looked down at the tiny baby in his arms. He honestly found holding the little thing rather uncomfortable. He was surprised that the piercings on his arms weren't causing any issues. "You know, I still don't think baby care is my thing."

"It doesn't have to be." Gray said. He held Shana in one arm while the other tried to pull his necklace out of her mouth. "No mouth." He told her repeatedly.

"Holding them is the easiest part." Natsu joined in. "Cause eventually they just start holding onto you." He pointed down to his leg where Layla had latched her arms around him and was standing on one of his shoes. She giggled with every step Natsu took.

"Hmm. That's true." Gray thought about it for a moment. Then a sad expression built on his face. "Although Shana seems to only do that with her mother."

"Maybe it's cause you don't even have a shirt she can hold onto." Natsu teased, pointing out that the ice mage was once again without a shirt.

"I think she likes it better like this." The shirtless father rebutted. He turned around so that his back was facing the other two fathers.

"I wonder if this guy will do that kind of thing." Gajeel looked at the boy in his arms. The baby was fast asleep, which he only seemed to do if someone was holding him. It was as if Zach had a built in sensor because the moment you put him down, he would wake up and start crying. Gajeel figured that Levy must have some sort of magic incantation or something, because she always managed to put the boy to sleep, where as if Gajeel tried, the kid would only keep crying.

"It's not magic. It's motherhood." Gray would always say. The idea always confused Natsu because he was able to take care of Layla and keep her under control with absolutely no problems. Gajeel was a bit stumped by it as well, but he just decided to go along with it, seeing as he had no other explanations.

Fairy Tail was becoming more and more family friendly. With having two back rooms set up specially for naps and changing diapers, as well as children's snacks now being served at the bar, it was a wonder that the guild wasn't becoming some sort of hang out for mages and their kids. The number of kids on the way seemed to only be going up as well. Recently Mirajane had been serving drinks while wearing what was clearly a diamond ring, and Lisanna and Laxus tended to disappear for a few days at a time. This time though, no one had seen them since they left the day Levy had given birth. Most of the guild members figured that the two had run off to get married where Elfman couldn't object.

While preparations went around for Mirajane and Freed's wedding, Juvia and Gray had announced that they were expecting their second child. Excitement ran through the guild as the next generation of Fairy Tail began building up more and more.


	15. Dirty Child

It was pretty early in the morning and the guild was only just starting to fill up. The loudest conversation was coming from the group of women all sitting at one table. Mirajane had become pregnant very soon after her wedding last spring, and was already nearing 5 months. Elfman wasn't particularly happy about his sister's marriage, but he was surprisingly calm when he heard that she was having a child. He actually stopped sending threats to Freed and offered to help with anything. The guild only wished he could be the same with Lisanna. The youngest of the three siblings had come back to Fairy Tail after going out and getting hitched with Laxus, only a few days after her sister's wedding. Although he knew challenging the lighting mage wouldn't get him anywhere, Elfman clearly didn't like that fact that the blonde man had 'stolen' his little sister from him. When Lisanna had come back, after being gone for two weeks, she was already expecting her first child who was to be born only a month after Mirajane's. The both of them happily sat with Juvia, Levy, Erza, and Wendy. The once again round Juvia was close to reaching 8 months, waiting on her second child. Even Levy had come into the guild before Mirajane and Freed's wedding announcing that she was pregnant again. Many had been surprised because she had only had Zach barely a year before. Erza would constantly come and sit with the women and talk about various things from the missions they couldn't go out on to the motherly discussions of children and husbands, although she didn't have anything to add in those topics. Lately Wendy had been joining in as well. She had reached that age where she had begun separate herself from the much wilder guys in the guild.

"Laxus is insisting on naming the child Spike whether it's a boy or not." Lisanna complained, earning a laugh from the other girls at the table.

"Gajeel tried to pull that kind of thing too." Levy added, rolling her eyes. "He was convinced that Rex or Steel would be a perfect name. It took me forever to convince him to try coming up with something normal."

"I knew a guy named Rex once." Erza muttered. "I think I nearly killed him."

"What?" The solid script mage shot a questioning look at the red head.

"It was a mission I went on." Erza reassured the smaller woman.

"So do you have any problems with names Sis?" Lisanna asked Mirajane, restarting the previous conversation.

"Not at all." The older mage smiled and held a hand to her cheek. "Freed is being such a sweet heart. He said I could pick whatever name I liked."

"Eeeeeeh. You're so lucky." The younger sister sat in her seat and pouted to herself. She mumbled something under her breath that everyone assumed was some sort of hit to Laxus.

"Juvia thinks so too." The water mage jumped in.

"Did you have troubles naming Shana?" Wendy asked. Usually the sky dragon slayer would just sit back and quietly observe the women talking, but every now and again, when her curiosity spiked, she would ask a question or two.

"Yes. There were just so many good names. Juvia and Gray had no idea what to pick." Juvia let out a slight sigh.

"I know what you mean." Levy laughed a bit. "Those baby name books do nothing but make you even more lost."

"But it sure must be fun." Erza smiled at the girls, but her smile soon turned to confusion due to all of the other girls turning their heads to stare at her. "What?"

"Hmmm. Erza, you wouldn't by any chance want a child would you?" Mira asked.

The equip mage in question had a light shade of pick over her cheeks. "I don't think that kind of thing is for me." She explained. "Although I do think about it sometimes."

"I think you'd make a good mother." Erza was a bit surprised when Levy said this. "But my only question would be who you have a child with."

"What about Jellal?" Lisanna suggested. "Wasn't there something between you two?"

"N-not really." The red haired woman ducked her head in embarrassment, something she didn't feel often. "Even if there was something, he's always being followed by the Magic Council, so he can't have anything holding him down to one place."

"Yeah, that is a problem." Levy thought out loud.

Over on the other side of the guild hall was the group of males, all thoroughly avoiding the conversation that was going on between the women. Like Wendy did with the girls, Romeo would join in constantly. He claimed that it had to do with 'being a man', which just made everyone think that he had spent way too much time with Elfman. The teen aged boy sat on top of the bar counter, kicking his feet into the bar of the stool in front of him. Layla, Shana, and Zach were all on the floor not too far off, playing with some toys.

"What do you think they're taking about?" Romeo asked, clearly referring to the girls who had suddenly started laughing.

"I don't know." Natsu shrugged. "What do pregnant women talk about?"

"Shouldn't you know flame brain?" The ice mage snorted. "You're practically one yourself." The comment earned a few chuckles from the other guys.

"Not that I'm siding with Gray or anything," Gajeel began. "But you do understand what they're saying better than anyone else. How do you do that anyways?"

Natsu seemed to think about it a moment, then simply shrugged. "Practice? I don't know."

"Don't you guys think the guild is gonna get way too loud soon?" This time it was Laxus who spoke up. The lightning mage sat on one of the bar stool, gulping down a large mug of beer.

"It's too damn loud whether there are kids here or not." Gajeel complained. Even though he made remarks like that, it was hard to take him seriously when Zach would cling to him whenever Levy wasn't around.

The three kids were all getting bigger by the day. Layla, at five years old, had taken the role of 'big sister' to Shana. The two girls stuck to each other like glue. Even though she was nearing her third birthday Shana was very quiet, but more so shy if anything. She had a tendency to hide behind her mother or father whenever someone said anything to her, which was completely different from Layla, who would run up to the door and say hello to everyone who walked in, before running off to go back to whatever she had been doing before. Zach was just about as loud as Layla too. At only a few months over one year old, he had short jet black hair, clearly taken from Gajeel, and big brown eyes like Levy's. Even though he wasn't the best with sentences, he enjoyed trying to read along to the books Levy would read to him by loudly repeating a word that caught his attention.

A sudden squeal coming from the direction of the girls table caught the attention of everyone in the large guild hall. There was a moment where all of the guys clearly wanted to know what was going on, but none of them were about to go over and intrude on the girls conversations. Then Natsu cleared his throat.

"Leave this to me." He said, in a rather snotty fashion. "Pssst. Layla." He whispered to his daughter. The blonde girl happily skipped over to her father and looked up at him with a bit of confusion in her eyes. "I've got a mission for you. The reward is a trip to the candy store if it's completed." The fire mage said with a serious look on his face. Layla's eyes went wide upon hearing she was being given a mission. She always wants to go on missions like her father, but since she was not only too young, and not a mage, but also wasn't yet a real member of the guild, she wasn't allowed to. She brought two fists in front of her chest and nodded, showing that she was ready to hear what this mission was. "It's a stealth mission." Natsu explained. "You need to go over to the table where all the girls are and find out what they're talking about, then report back to me. But be careful, if they find out about this mission then you might have to fight your way out." Layla nodded before walking over to the table.

"Stealth mission?" Laxus chuckled.

"What? You guys wanted to know right?" Natsu shrugged.

When Layla arrived at the table, she climbed up onto the bench, squeezing between Erza and Levy. Since she sat with them quite often, none of the women thought anything of it when she started listening in on their conversation. But they did all take notice to start censoring anything that was inappropriate for 'little ears'.

"That's so amazing!" Lisanna cheered. "How was it?"

"It was, um, well." Wendy took a moment to think about how to answer. Her face had a large pink blush on it. "For starters, it was really sweet. And he was actually pretty shy about it."

"Really?" Levy laughed. "That doesn't sound like him for some reason."

"What are you talking about?" Layla asked. Since she had only just jumped into the conversation, she didn't know what the topic was, and it would be rather hard to complete the mission her father had given her if she didn't even know what the conversation was about.

"Romeo and Wendy had their first kiss." Mirajane clapped her hands together and smiled, it was one of those smiles that just made everyone think she had something to do with it.

"Aren't kisses only things grown-ups do?" Layla coxed her head to the side.

"Yeah. But Wendy and Romeo are 17 years old, so they're old enough." Lisanna explained.

Layla thought about it for a moment. But after sitting around for a moment longer, she decided to return to her father and report what she had learned. After skipping back across the guild to where Natsu and the others were, Layla stopped in front of Natsu and saluted, a funny grin plastered on her face.

"You figure out what they were talking about?" Natsu asked, patting the little blonde girl on the head.

"Yep!" She cheered in response, waiting for everyone's attention before taking a big breath. "Wendy and Romeo kissed and Levy and Lisanna and Erza and Mirajane and Juvia were making her talk about it and she said it was sweet and made her happy and that Romeo was really really shy and I think Mirajane planned part of it because she was smiling funny but they all seemed excited by it and I asked them about it and they said that since Wendy and Romeo are 17 they're big enough and are like grown-ups so it's ok."

Some of the guys tried to hold back laughs cause by Layla's long, one sentence, explanation. Natsu told her that she did a good job and let her go back to playing. Once the little girl had skipped off, all eyes turned toward Romeo, who was silently starring down at his feet, a light shade of pink on his face.

"Way to go buddy!" Natsu joked, slinging an arm around the younger fire mage's shoulders. The black haired boy just shyly nodded.

"Haven't you two been dating for a while though?" Gray asked.

"Well, yeah. But it wasn't exactly official until a little while ago. Before that it was more like nervously hanging out." Romeo tried to explain the situation, although he still wasn't able to hide the slight blush on his face.

The guys seemed to drop the conversation there. Unlike the women, who would probably talk about this for the next day or two, they just left it where it was. They were guys after all. Sure, three out of the six of them would almost never be seen without a child in arms, and two of them were waiting on children of their own, but that didn't change too much. Natsu and Gray were the only two who had actually changed. The two were the dictionary definition of doting fathers. They always seemed to think of nothing much outside of their little girls.

As conversations continued in the guild, and mages came and went, most heading off on missions, everyone seemed to disperse themselves a bit more evenly. Mirajane and Lisanna had migrated over to the table in front of the bar, joining Laxus and Freed. Erza sat at the bar with Cana and the Master. Levy was happily reading a story to Layla, Shana, and Zach. The three of which sat on the floor in front of her, listening very closely. Natsu was sitting not too far, clearly showing interest in the picture book, while Gajeel lazily held onto Zach to make sure the boy didn't wonder off. Gray and Juvia were sitting on their own, enjoying a little lunch together. Romeo and Wendy were happily chatting, making plans to take a mission soon.

"Damn. Out of booze again." Cana cursed, shaking her ridiculously large mug up-side-down, as if to prove a point.

"I'll get you some more." Mirajane got up from her seat and began to make her way around the bar.

"Are you sure Mira?" Freed asked. Clearly worried about his wife.

"Oh I'm fine." Mira joked. "I may be pregnant but that doesn't mean I can't do something as simple as get someone a drink." The white haired women went behind the bar and over to the barrels of liquor that were placed under the counter. She noticed that the one in front was empty and figured that she would need to move it out of the way eventually, so she just began pushing it to the side. When they were empty, barrels were actually rather light, so moving it wasn't a problem at all. After the barrel was out of the way, she leaned down some to pull the one behind it forward enough for her to open up. But when it was far enough out from under the counter, she saw something behind it. "Oh my."

"What is it?" Erza asked. She had been watching the slightly older mage, just in case she needed any help.

Instead of responding, Mira waved for Erza to come over to her. Now confused, just as everyone else there was, Erza made her way around the bar to be by Mirajane's side. When she got there, Mira pointed to the space under the counter, a smile spread across her face. Erza squatted and quickly saw what Mira had been surprised about.

Lying under the counter was a person, a kid to be exact. His back was facing her, but Erza could see his chest rising up and down, so she knew that he or she was alive. Whoever it was, looked like they were asleep. Erza shot a confused look up at Mira, who just shrugged. After thinking about what to do, Erza decided to try and wake the kid up. She reached a hand out and patted the kids shoulder, shaking them a little bit. To her surprise, the child woke up right away. In a jerking motion, they were sitting up, pressing themselves into the back of the under-the-counter area, one arm up in front of their chest.

"Hey. Come here." Erza reached out again, to try and grab hold of the child. But as soon as she tried, the kid shot out from underneath the counter, pushing past her and Mira, and running towards the center of the guild hall.

After hearing a crash that came with the kid knocking over a bar stool, many people in the guild's attention began to turn to the kid, who continued running. Many, including Natsu and Gajeel, ran after the kid.

"Oi! Stop running!" Natsu yelled. The child had run right pasted him while he had been listening to the story Levy was reading. Because the kid kept running into things, and because others seemed to be chasing the little thing, he had gotten up to join the chase. But this kid was surprisingly fast. It wasn't until many of the guild members were after this kid that they actually managed to corner the kid. Once they had all stopped running, they were able to get a good look at the being who had been tearing through the guild hall.

It was a boy. A rather young one at that. Although he was trapped in a corner, he seemed to be standing his ground. His little fists were clenched in front of his chest and his legs were spread only a little bit a part. It was a rather defensive position. His hair was like a dark grey and matted against his face. As far as clothes went, his were pretty beat-up, torn here and there, and covered and mud. Just like he was. Although he didn't look like he was injured, he clearly wasn't in the best of conditions.

"Stand down." The Master said, breaking through the crowd and going towards the boy. "Hello there son." The boy didn't respond. "What are you doing here?" Still nothing. "What's your name?" After asking many questions, the boy didn't say anything. His eyes only darted from face to face, as if he was waiting for someone to jump him. He didn't try doing anything until the Master reached out to try and touch him. He quickly ducked out of the way and tried to make a break for it, only to be caught by Laxus.

The lightning mage lifted the boy up by the back of his shirt, holding him in the air with one hand. The boy kicked his legs and used his hands to grab at Laxus's, trying to pull his shirt out of the mage's grip.

"Put him down Laxus." Erza commanded, approaching the blonde.

"You sure? This runt's just gonna run again." Laxus asked, he shot the kid a threatening look. But before keeping up any form of argument with the reequip mage, he roughly put the child back on the ground and let go.

The moment he was released the kid fell to the ground. He scrambled to try and get up, but before he could Erza was looming over him.

"What's your name?" She asked. The boy looked away. Even though he was keeping up a strong front, it was clear that he was shivering, although no one could tell if he was scared of just cold. "Let's try this then. Were you trying to hurt anyone?" The boy looked up at Erza. His eyes were golden, but they were cold. Very soon after making eye contact with the boy, Erza stood up and walked away.

Many of the other mages had already left the scene. Natsu sat at a table, close enough that he was still able to see the boy clearly. Layla sat in his lap, playing with the scarf around her father's neck. Natsu rested his chin on top of his girl's head.

"What do you think that kid's here for?" He asked the others who were at the table.

"Hell if I know." Gray spat at the fire mage. "You saw him, he wasn't talking at all."

"The poor boy's probably just scared." Levy said. She had a rather worried look on her face, as if something was bothering her. "Why do you think he's so dirty?"

"Kids get dirty." Gajeel shrugged.

"Not like that." Erza walked up to the table, arms crossed. "Something happened and he's not about to tell us any time soon."

"You think he'll run off?" The iron dragon slayer questioned.

"Who knows." Erza just shrugged. "Just leave him be for now."

"Who is that boy Daddy?" Layla asked, her eyes not leaving the knot she was tying in the scarf.

"No idea sweetie pie." The pink haired male mumbled. "Does he bother you or something?"

"No." Layla replied simply.


	16. Feeling at Home

A few days later, the boy was still hanging around the guild. He spent all of his time sitting in one of the back corners, pressed against the wall. He never did anything other than sit and stare at everyone in the loud guild hall. Occasionally, when Mirajane would bring him a plate of food, he would stare at her until she left before hurriedly eating it, as if it would run away from him otherwise. Sometimes he would scurry off the find a bathroom or disappear behind a large wooden crate and sleep. Some of the members were starting to get worried that something was wrong with him. He didn't make any sounds, he didn't do anything, and he was still filthy.

"I sort of feel sorry for the kid." Lisanna said, saying exactly what everyone else at the table with her was thinking. Her older sister nodded in response. All of the women at the table looked over at the boy, who was currently sitting with his legs crossed underneath him.

"I'm getting tired of this." Erza shot up from her seat.

"What are you doing?!" Levy asked, watching as the red haired mage began making her way towards the boy. "Just leave him be."

Erza ignored her friend as she walked closer and closer to the boy, until she was standing directly in front of him. The gray haired child looked up at her, his arms now raised as if to protect himself. "Get up." Erza commanded. The boy shot her a challenging look, as if to say 'make me', but after a rather threatening look from Erza, he slowly stood up, legs shaking under him. Before he could react, Erza grabbed onto his wrist and began dragging him across the guild hall. The kid was clearly struggling to try and get away from her grip, but was no match for her. "Sit." She commanded, pointing to the bench by one of the tables.

The boy sat down as commanded and looked down at his lap. His fists were clench, as if he was waiting for something to happen. But after five minutes of anticipation, the reequip mage still hadn't done anything. When he finally looked up, he was surprised to see that Erza had gone back to sit at the table across from the one he was at, talking once again with the other women of the guild. She seemed to have stopped paying attention to him entirely. The boy silently watched as the women conversed. He saw that every now and then one of them would glance over at him, and he could tell that they were holding back their curiosity.

"Cliff." He said, loud enough to catch the attention of the girls at the table. They all turned to look at him, some surprised that he had said anything at all. "That's my name." Cliff stood up from his seat and walked over to where the girls were. He was scratching his arm and looked down at his feet. "Sorry for running into you or knocking stuff over or something."

"Don't worry about it." Mira was the first to speak, she gave him her usual sweet smile.

"Things are always getting broken here." Levy joked, laughing to herself a bit as she recalled all of the many fights that had broken out in the guild hall in the past.

"Where are you from?" Erza asked, trying to dig more out of the boy. Instead of responding, Cliff just looked down at his feet. "Ok then. Why were you sleeping under the counter?"

"It was raining." Cliff answered. "A window was open so I climbed in and hid under the counter. I was gonna leave when the rain stopped."

"Why didn't you just go home?" Mirajane asked Cliff, who seemed to clench his fists once again. Everyone seemed to be turning their heads towards him and staring him down.

The filth covered boy bit down on his lip after feeling the stares burn further into him. His arms and legs were trembling, although it was barely noticeable. He could taste some blood in his mouth from his overly chapped lips. "I don't wanna talk about it." Cliff whispered.

Several confused glances were sent between the guild members at the table. Many of them had a feeling that something bad had happened, other ways Cliff probably wouldn't have even been there in the first place. This realization soon turned the confusion into sympathy and sadness.

"Why don't you get cleaned up?" Erza broke the rather awkward silence that had fallen upon the many girls.

"Eh?" Cliff lifted his head, his eyes wide in surprise, and stared the red haired mage in the eyes. Before he knew it, an armored hand was gripping his much smaller wrist and began dragging him out towards the pool area behind the guild. His small feet scrapped against the wood floor of the guild as he tried to fight the overly powerful reequip mage who refused to let go of the small boy. The actually rather funny looking scene caught the attention of several others, including Layla and Shana, who followed after the other pair, Natsu and Gray going as well in order to keep an eye on their own daughters. Since the weather was rather nice this time of year, there were a few others who were lounging around, swimming, and just enjoying the nice day. Very quickly after they got outside, Layla had begged Natsu to let her go swimming, so the set of four all retreated to the changing room inside of the guild in order to get both girls into bathing suits.

"Sit in there." Erza instructed, pointing at a small plastic kiddie pool that had been set up for the infants and toddlers of the guild.

Cliff looked at the small pool, then back at Erza. "No way." He shot a challenging look up at the woman, only to get a much stronger one, which quickly compelled the young boy to slowly get into the plastic pool and sit down, crossing his legs under him.

"Are you wearing underwear?" After a bright glow, Erza was now dressed in the same black bikini she always wore when she swam. She began pulling out the garden hose that was used to fill up the small pool.

"Y-yeah." Cliff let out a slight cough when he saw her, trying to cover up the surprise of her changing her clothing so quickly.

"Good. Take off the rest of your clothing then." Before even waiting for Cliff to get the beaten shirt and shorts off of him, Erza began filling the pool up.

"Hey!" Cliff jumped up when he felt the cold water splash him.

"What's wrong?" The red haired girl looked blankly at the gray haired boy after he made his sudden outburst.

"First, that water's freezing! Second, why do I need to take my clothes off?" His voice came out as a loud yell. This was the loudest he had ever been since he was discovered inside of the guild, so it almost threw Erza off.

"It's just a little cold." She said calmly, placing the hose down so that it would fill up the small pool. "And you need to bathe. You're covered in dirt. Now hurry up."

After attempting to challenge Erza more than once, and failing each time, Cliff pretty much new that arguing wasn't about to get him anywhere. Reluctantly, he began to pull off the rag like clothes he wore and sat down in the cold water, back facing Erza. He sucked in his breath as a freezing waterfall of water suddenly fell on top of his head and down his back.

"You'll get used to it." Erza chuckled a bit at the boy's reaction to the water. She kneeled down next to the pool as she made sure to cover the small boy with water, allowing all lose dirt to wash right off of him before even bothering with soap. The water quickly turned from clear to a bit murky as she rubbed her hands down Cliff's back in order to rub off some of the filth.

"What are you doing?" Layla asked as she ran up next to Erza, dressed in a light pink one piece. Shana stood behind her, gripping onto the slightly older girl's hand, wearing a white and blue two-pieced bathing suit.

"Giving Cliff a bath." Erza looked over to the small girls with a smile.

"You might wanna think about using some soap." Gray said as he placed a bar of soap, along with a bottle of shampoo, on the group near the pool.

"Thanks Gray." Erza said as she picked up the bar of soap and began to scrub off more dirt from Cliff's back. The young boy sat slumped over, him arms locked straight with his hands in his lap, letting out a small grumble from all the unwanted attention.

"Can I get in too?" Layla turned to ask her father who was standing not too far behind.

"Sorry sweet heart." Natsu patted the top of his little girl's head. "But you aren't getting in that filthy water. Why don't you and I go into the bigger pool?"

"Kay! Come on Shana!" The blonde turned to her friend and grabbed onto her hand, leading her towards the shallow end of the real pool. The dark haired girl easily followed. Natsu and Gray each said a good bye to Erza before following the girls.

"Now then." Erza quickly turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. She began to wash off the suds from the soap. By now she was finally able to see the tannish skin that had been hiding underneath the layers of dirt. As she continued to wash more of the filth off, Erza began to notice that there were several lines across the boys back that were darker in color then the rest of his skin. After rubbing over them a few times, she realized what they were. "Where did all of these scares come from?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Cliff replied in a harsh tone that surprised Erza more than when he had first yelled at her.

Letting out a sigh, Erza put the hose down and forced Cliff to face her. "Everyone here has secrets that they would rather not talk about." She explained. "You don't need to tell me every detail, but even a hint would help everyone in the guild figure out what we're supposed to do. We all just want to help."

The gray haired boy seemed to think about it a bit, then he looked up at the mage before him. "It's nothing really. They're just some scratches I got from crawling through fences, sliding down hills, and other stuff like that." Instead of giving a verbal reply, Erza dumped a handful of shampoo on top of the boy's head and began the scrub hard on his scalp. "Ouch! That hurts you know?"

"Then that means it's working." Cliff couldn't tell if the red haired woman was joking or not. Instead, he just stared down at the bar of soap in his hands, rubbing it between his fingers around his legs, which remained folded beneath him. He could feel the thick suds slipping down his back as more cold water attacked his head, although this time he didn't even bother complaining. It wasn't like it was about to get warmer anyways.

"There you go. All clean." Erza admired her work as Cliff stood up from the pool. She grabbed a towel from a table nearby and let Cliff dry himself. He was completely clean. His hair was no longer matted against his face, and you could even see that it was a lighter gray than she had originally thought. The muddy splotches that had been crusted to his arms and legs were gone and the strange black mark that Erza had found under his arm was gone as well. Needless to say, Erza was rather proud of the job she had done.

After wrapping himself in the much larger towel, Cliff found himself being led back into the guild. "Anyone have some old clothes?" Erza called as she entered.

"The hell do _you_ need clothes for?" Gajeel sneered.

"For Cliff I mean." The reequip mage glared at the iron dragon slayer after his rude remark.

"I've got some of Romeo's old clothes back home." Said Macao. "I can go get some of them if you want."

"Yes please." Erza nodded her thanks.

"Hey kid. How old are you?" The older man asked as he got up from his seat.

Cliff took a moment to count on the fingers on one of hands, using the other to hold onto the towel. "Five." He said.

"Five? Got it." Macao nodded before heading out of the guild to get some of the clothes.

After about an hour or so, Macao had come back to Fairy Tail with a box of clothes for Cliff. Instead of trying everything on, Cliff just grabbed a set of clothes, that thankfully fit, and threw them on. It was just a simple pair of shorts and a shirt, along with a pair of underwear which he was happiest to have considering his were currently soaked. By now many people were starting to leave to go get dinner or enjoying Happy Hour at the bar. Cliff sat at one of the tables near the back of the room, shoveling mashed potatoes into his mouth and gulping down glass after glass of milk. When he was finally done, he sat and looked around the guild hall. A lot of people were surrounding the bar and having drinking contests, the same large group of women had relocated away from all of the commotion to a table just a bit farther from the bar, and at this point a lot of the guys were at the table as well.

Cliff continued to sit and watch from afar, kicking his heels together since his feet couldn't reach the floor. He didn't really want to play with the other, nor did he want to play with them, but he did enjoy listening to their conversations. Slowly he decided that the spot he was in now was cold, and that being near others would make him warmer. Using that as his own personal excuse, the gray haired boy got up and walked over to the loud table near the center of the guild. Finding a space at the end of a table, close to the large group of mages, Cliff listened in to the conversations that spread over the table. Missions, children, baby, fight, baby, crazy thing, good food, baby. The conversations always seemed to go back to babies. In all honesty, this should have been expected seeing as just about everyone at the table was either pregnant or married to one of the pregnant women. But Cliff still found himself interested in the conversations, even if he didn't quite understand most of the topics.

As it got closer to night and more people began heading home, Natsu carrying a sleeping Layla, Shana asleep in Gray's arms as he walked with Juvia, Levy leaving with Gajeel who was holding onto Zach, and many of the other little families as well. Seeing as everyone was leaving, Cliff began making his way to the corner he would always sleep in.

"Don't you get tired of sleeping on the floor?" Cliff looked up from his spot on the ground to see Erza looming over him.

"I don't care." He tried to say through a yawn.

"Isn't it supposed to get cold tonight Mira?" The scarlet haired mage asked across the guild to the white haired woman who was getting prepared to leave the guild herself.

"Yes. I heard the temperature was going to drop a lot." Mira responded, a slight smile on her face from knowing exactly what her friend was planning.

"There you have it." Erza looked down at the small boy, who now looked like he was scoping out the hall for a heating vent to curl up against. "Why don't you come spend the night at my place?" Cliff looked up at the woman with a blank expression. He wanted to tell himself that she was joking, but the hand wrapped around his wrist entirely shot down that idea. Instead of resisting however, he went along with it. He had learned by now that there was absolutely no point in even trying to go against Erza, so he let her guide him up the dark hill to the dormitory building at the top, the whole time thinking about how cold it already was even though the sun had only just gone down. After a few flights of stairs, Cliff was led into an extremely large dorm room that probably took up the entire floor of the building. Many kinds of armor were lined up against the walls, taking up most of the space.

"It's not much, but feel free to make yourself at home." Erza said as she led Cliff into sleeping area, although it was really just a bed and some book shelves pushed into one corner of the large dorm space. "I'm going to take a bath. While I'm doing that why don't you go to sleep?" As she said that, Erza began making her way out of the dorm room, leaving Cliff not quite knowing what to do.

When she said he could go to sleep, did that mean on the floor? Or would she let him sleep in her bed? Cliff walked over to the large bed. It was so tempting. Cautiously, he climbed on top of the bed and crawled his way to the center. The soft blankets were so much nicer than that hard wood floor in the guild hall, not to mention softer and warmer. Not being able to resist, Cliff pulled the blankets down just enough for him to sneak under them without shifting them too much. Instantly a wave of warmth and comfort washed over him as he buried his face in the large pillow, breathing in the scent of laundry detergent. He hadn't been so comfortable in his whole life, or at least, not that he remembered anyways. Very soon, sleepiness grabbed hold of him and he wasn't able to keep his eyes closed any longer. Covered in fluffy blankets and pillows, he quickly fell asleep.


	17. Wetting the Bed

Never in his life, had Cliff woken up feeling so comfortable. He was warm and there was this soft and fuzzy feeling surrounding him. Unlike the usual solid and hard floors he would sleep on, he seemed to sink into the cushioned surface beneath him. He wrapped his arms around a particularly soft bundle of plush, burying his face in the oddly flowery scent. But along with this rather calming scent, was a strange noise that came with a rather tickling feeling over the top of his head. It wasn't necessarily a bad sound, but more so just something that made him curious enough to break away from this heavenly world he was currently in and open his eyes.

After allowing his eyes to adjust to the light of the day, Cliff slowly turned his head to the side, where he was pretty sure the noise was coming from. At first he did quite comprehend what is was he was looking out. A woman, a young one at that, was lying down next to him. Long locks of red hair fell off of her shoulder after being tucked behind an ear. Her deep blackish-brown eyes were already open and watching him closely. Upon seeing that the boy had woken up, she smiled at him.

"Did you sleep well?" After she asked him this, Cliff began registering what was going on, and just what situation he was currently in. Upon realizing just where he was, he quickly sat up-right, crossing his legs in front of his and staring back at the red haired woman he recognized to be Erza Scarlet. Erza pushed herself off of the bed and stood up. It wasn't until then that Cliff realized that she hadn't been under the blankets like he had been.

"Why did you let me sleep here?" He asked, looking away as the mage before him reequipped into her usual armor.

"I don't have any particular reason if that's what you're looking for." Erza shrugged. She soon disappeared into a separate room, where Cliff could hear her rummaging through something.

Cliff got out from under the blankets, slightly regretting the fact that he was leaving such a comfortable place, and placed his feet on the floor. He walked down into the large collection on armors, eyes wide in wonder at the large mass of magical outfits. Hearing foots steps behind him, he turned around to see Erza place one of the boxes of clothing that Macao had given him on the floor.

"Change your clothes real quick. Then we'll head down to the guild." Erza watched as Cliff dug through the box of clothing. A lot of the clothes seemed to be the same style shirt with some sort of weird 'S' on the front, most of which looked like they might be a bit small, and shorts of assorted color and shades. After finding a plain red shirt and black shorts, with a pair of under wear, Cliff began changing into the new clothes.

Not too long after, Erza had led the way down the large hill from the dorm building to the guild. It was the middle of the morning, much later than Erza would normally arrive at the guild, so there were many more people there than she was used to seeing when she made her way through the large doors. Although, she didn't find it fazing at all.

The reequip mage pushed Cliff forward and into the guild, making him go towards the other members instead of letting him run off to isolate him-self. She brought him over to a cleared out area on the floor where Layla, Shana, and Zach had made their play area. The three children, with their respective parents watching over them, were all fiddling around with toys the mess of toys that were in front of them.

"Yo." Natsu waved upon noticing the two. Many of the others also looked up from what they were doing to greet the pair.

"Good morning." Erza said in her usual calm demeanor. She looked down at the small plastic figures that were spread across the floor, not recognizing any as what was usually found in the guild. "I see you brought your own toys today."

"Layla wanted to bring them and show them to everyone." Natsu scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

The little blonde girl sat on the wood floor, showing a little dragon toy to Zach, who looked up at it with wonder. The one-year-old boy reached his hands up and felt around the wings, amazed at how they looked. Shana, who hid behind the leg of her father, seemed interested as well. But the one who seemed to want to play with the little toy dragon the most was Cliff. Even though he didn't attempt to interact with the other children, let alone start playing with them, he stood next to Erza and stared at the toys, his eyes never leaving them.

All of the adults around could see that the six year old was holding him-self back from playing as well, but didn't say anything. They were all silently hoping that he would join in on his own. But, after a while of them conversing, and Cliff continuing to just watch, they figured that there wasn't even the slightest chance that the gray haired boy would make the first move.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Zach crawled his way over to Cliff, holding a bear toy up while the dragon he had just been infatuated with was in his other hand. Cliff looked down at the tiny boy with utter confusion on his face. It wasn't just the fact that he had never been put into a situation like this before, but he also didn't know what to make of Zach. The younger boy was only a little over a year old, which meant Cliff was nearly four years older. Although Cliff had been a little surprised to hear that Zach was so much younger. The black haired boy was bigger than any one-year-old that Cliff had ever seen, plus he also seemed to talk a bit already, although he only ever spoke a few words at a time. Now, looking down towards the younger boy, Cliff slowly reached a hand out. He didn't quite know what he was going to do, or if Zach was going to give him the plastic bear in the first place. But curiosity was getting the better of him.

Cliff felt a jolt of excitement when the toy was pushed into his hand. He slowly sat down on the floor as well, looking over the bear several times before moving it like he had seen others do. He made it look as if the bear was walking around on his knee and the floor. A smile broke out on Cliff's face. Suddenly, the a dragon landed on the bear, and when he looked at where it had come from, he saw that Zach had decided to play too. Not quite knowing what he was doing, Cliff joined the smaller boy in clacking the two creatures together. However, his smile quickly turned to confusion when Zach started making little noises.

"Bang! Bang!" The one-year-old yelled as the toys met.

"You're supposed to make sounds too." Layla called over to the gray haired boy. Carrying the same lion and cat toys she would usually play with, she made her way over to sit by the boys, crossing her legs in front of her. "Like this." She made a little growl as she moved the plastic lion in to 'attack' the dragon.

"Um….. Grrrrrr." Cliff tried to copy the sound that the blonde girl next to him was making, although his sounded a bit more awkward.

"Looks like he's starting to fit in some." Gray whispered to the group of adults that had been watching over the children. Shana had followed Layla over to be near Cliff and Zach, although she didn't do anything outside of sit quietly next to Layla and observe the play before her.

"Mhmm." Erza nodded in agreement. "He's a bit awkward though." She kept her eyes fixed on Cliff as he slowly figured out how his little bear was supposed to fight a dragon and lion. Suddenly, a sound of a grumbling stomach echoed around the area. At first, the different fathers approached their children to see if it was theirs. But when it wasn't one of them, they all turned to see Cliff, rubbing his stomach with one hand, his brow furrowed and face slightly red.

"Have you eaten yet?" Natsu asked the boy, who shook his head in response.

"Haven't you fed the child yet Erza?" Gray asked the red haired woman.

"I suppose not." Erza scratched at her chin. "I was going to do that once we got here, but I guess it slipped my mind. I'll go get something ready now." She turned around from the group and began to walk away. As she was leaving however, she momentarily stopped and turned around. "Are you coming?" She directed to question towards Cliff.

The boy placed the toy bear carefully on the floor before pushing himself off of the ground and standing up. He followed after Erza as she walked deeper into the guild hall, over to where she would be able to get a breakfast ready for Cliff. This left the others they had previously been with off to the side of the guild.

Layla, leaving her toys on the ground, rushed over to her ink haired father and latched onto his leg. "That boy is kind weird Daddy."

"Hmmmmm. I guess he is." Natsu looked as if he were thinking it over as he bent down to pick Layla up and hold her in one arm.

"You know what else Daddy?" The blonde girl looked at her dad with large eyes.

"What?" The fire mage's curiosity got the best of him, although he had learned through experience that that face generally meant his daughter was up to know good.

"Tada!" Layla placed her small hands on her dad's cheeks. Natsu shivered in response. Her hands were freezing.

"How did your hands get so cold?!" Natsu took the small girls hands in his free hand, blowing puffs of fire over them in order to warm them up.

"Shana is always cold." Layla smiled, wiggling one hand out of her father's grip in order to play with the tassels on his scarf.

"Oi, Gray!" Natsu called over to the ice mage. "Keep your kid warm once in a while."

"What?" The dark haired male scoffed in response. He too was holding his daughter close, however, Shana was simply rested her head against her father's shoulder, hiding her face in the cool, currently not clothed, skin. "It's not my fault Layla radiates heat."

"What's that got to do with anything?" The two fathers glared at each other. The only things keeping them from fighting right then were the children in their arms.

"That's enough." Juvia said, as she walked in between the two males.

Upon seeing the overly round woman, the two immediately broke up the argument. Gray rushed over to see if he could help his wife in any way. Juvia was getting to the point where it was only a matter of time. Of course, she wasn't the only one. The, for some reason, large group of pregnant mages were all coming with-in months of their expected birth dates. Since they were all getting rather close, the majority of the guild was on edge from serving the overly hormonal women's every whim. Although it wasn't too different from any other day before hand.

"Mama." Shana said shyly. The smile her mother gave reassuring her. "Am I cold?"

"Juvia doesn't think so." The water mage lifted a hand up to stroke the cheek of her daughter. "You're just the right temperature."

"But, Layla….." The small, dark haired girl tried to think about it. If she wasn't cold, but she was cold to Layla, then how did that make sense?

"It may have something to do with magic." Mira called from the bench she was sitting in. Her jumping into the conversation startled the initial members due to the fact that they hadn't even been aware that she was listening in.

"Magic?" Layla began to push herself away from her father, climbing off of him before skipping over to the white haired mage.

"Natsu is a fire mage, and his body is hot like fire. While Gray is an ice mage, and his body is much colder." Mira explained as simply as she could. "If you think about how that could have been passed down, then it may mean that Layla has the potential to be a fire mage, while Shana could be an ice mage."

Layla's eyes were wide and shining. "I'm gonna be a mage like Daddy!" The little blonde began jumping with excitement.

"You're a Fairy Tail child sweet heart." Natsu said, patting the top of his daughters head, trying to calm her down. "Of course you're gonna be a mage."

"Then are you gonna teach me magic like your Daddy?" Layla held Natsu's hand on top of her head, coxed her head to the side, and look up with pleading eyes.

"Can you teach someone dragon slayer magic if you're not a dragon?" Levy asked. She had been sitting across from Mirajane. Upon asking the question, she looked up at Gajeel who standing behind her, holding Zach.

"Heck if I know." The grizzly male shrugged. "Probably?"

"Either way!" Natsu burst in; interrupting the iron dragon slayer and turning all attention back towards Layla. "You aren't learning magic until you're older."

"What!" Layla whined. "Why?"

"Because I still have to change your bed sheets every now and then in the middle of the night because of a puddle that mysteriously appeared on your mattress." Natsu watched his daughter's face turn red with embarrassment. She hated the fact that he would tease her about, what she claimed was actually a curse that had been put on her, wetting her bed. Of course he felt as if he had the right to, considering not only was he the one cleaning everything up, but it had happened more than once, where it had happened in his bed.

Looking at his little girl's bright red face, Natsu let out a small chuckle before ruffling the hair on top of her head. "I'll teach you eventually. You just need to be older."

"What is this we're talking about?" Suddenly, Erza came back into the conversation, Cliff following behind her once again.

"Layla's going on about wanting to learn magic." Natsu shrugged. The tone in his voice showed that this probably wasn't the first time Layla had shown interest in the subject.

"I'm gonna be a fire mage like Daddy!" Layla cheered.

"Didn't the pink haired guy just say you have to stop wetting your bed first?" Cliff bluntly pointed out.

"I don't wet the bed!" Layla yelled at the boy.

"Then what happens?" Cliff showed a slight smirk on his face.

The small blonde girl to a moment to think about it. "Fairies did it."

"Fairies don't exist stupid." The gray haired boy stuck out his tongue.

"You're in Fairy Tail right NOW. How could you say they don't exist?" Layla looked appalled by this claim. Although she was also partially protecting her claim that she was not, in fact, wetting the bed.

"Just cause it's the name of the guild doesn't mean they're real." Crossing his arms behind his head, Cliff continued to mock the slightly younger girl.

Just a moment later, Layla made a move to lunge at the boy, however, Natsu managed to intercept the attack by wrapping his arms around Layla's waist and pulling her into his stomach. He could feel Layla go from trying to pull away from his much stronger grip, to giving up and letting her legs dangle to barely touch the wood floor. During this time, Cliff continued to stand with his arms behind his head, although it was clear that he had backed up some when Layla had initially lunged towards him.

"I've never seen Layla act like that." Mira giggled at the pout on the four-year-old's face.

"I recommend you don't try and fight Layla." Erza whispered into Cliff's ear.

"Why? She made the first move." The gray haired boy turned to look at the reequip mage.

"Natsu will beat you to a pulp if you hurt her." Cliff gulped down the saliva in his through. Sure Layla didn't scare him even the slightest bit, but Natsu? Natsu was a whole other story. Having that large, tough, and not to mention crazy, dragon slayer after him would probably be the equivalent to Erza coming after him. Add in the fact that it was to protect Layla, and it would be like he had stepped on Erza's precious cake, which he had heard should never be done.

Cliff turned his attention to the blonde girl, who seemed to be growling under her breath while starring him down. He had a feeling that what he had said may have caused some sort of permanent distain between the two. He didn't pay it too much mind though. From what he had seen, Layla would forgive him by the next day, maybe even by the end of this one.

"I wonder what magic's like." He muttered to himself.


	18. New Born

The guild was loud with the sounds of mages chatting, beer mugs clashing together, and some music that was currently being played on the large stage. The children who were normally adding to the noise of the guild were all gathered on the floor around Mirajane as the white haired mage read a storybook out loud to them, her still round stomach sticking out in front of her.

The ones sitting around her weren't just the little children of the guild. Natsu sat cross-legged on the ground, Layla in his lap, nearby Gray who held onto Shana. The girls had insisted on sitting close to each other, despite the complaints from their fathers. Cliff sat over on a stool nearby Erza who stood and half listened to the story, half talked with Lisanna. Gajeel, who looked like he was actually taking a nap, had Zach sitting on the floor in front of him while Levy was in a chair right behind him. Juvia was in the chair next to the solid-script mage, holding a tiny bundle in her arms.

The little baby boy Juvia happily held had been born only a week earlier. His name was Andrew and he was about the same size Shana had been at his age. The only color on his pale little body was from the dark hairs that already showed on top of his head. He rarely ever cried, so when he did it meant something was definitely wrong. But moments like that didn't occur too often. Andrew was one of those children who would happily sleep in the arms of whoever held him, never even stirring when he was being handed off for someone else to hold. Gray of course was beaming with pride because of his two children. He would have loved to carry pictures in his pockets, but the fact that he was always misplacing his pants kept him from that.

Now that Juvia had given birth, the entire guild knew that it was, quite literally, any day now for the other three women. Levy had already gone to the hospital once on a false alarm, and lately the two white haired sisters both looked much less comfortable than they normally did. This caused even the mages who usually went out on jobs whenever they could to stick around some. None of them wanting to miss the newest additions to the guild.

When the story was over the large group began to disperse. Layla and Shana sat on the bench at one of the tables, attempting to read the same story that had just been read to them. Neither of them were able to figure out whole sentences, but they were able to pick out a few words and between the two of them could guess at what was written. Zach sat awkwardly in Gajeel's arms as the little boy tried to lean over to look at the book his mother was reading.

"Cliff," Erza called to the small boy, who instantly looked over at her. "Go get a glass of water for Mira." She gestured to the slightly older woman.

"Yes Ma'am." The gray haired boy said before running off towards the bar. Although he had been there for a while now, Cliff was still in the process of getting used to the guild. He was still staying in Erza's dorm room, although he claimed he would rather sleep in the guild he had stopped resisting when Erza told him it was time to go back. In fact, he no longer rejected anything the red haired woman told him. He had learned to follow every order she gave him, and so he did just that.

Returning with a glass of ice cold water held carefully in his hands, Cliff made his way back to the table he had previously been sitting near. He placed the cup on the table in front of Mirajane before turning to go back to drawing patterns in the dirt on the floor and watching the crazy happenings of the guild.

"He didn't have to do that." Mira took a sip from her new water. Although she had said that, there was a clear smile on her face that showed she appreciated it.

"You sure have him trained well Erza." Lisanna joked. "It's almost like he's your puppy or something."

"Puppy?" The reequip mage made a funny face at the comparison. She looked over at the boy who looked around the guild as if he were searching for something. Sure he listened to her, but so did just about everyone else in the guild.

"Cliff's a puppy! Cliff's a puppy!" Layla chanted, having clearly overheard the conversation of the women. The small blonde giggle and made barking noises directed towards Cliff. After being ignored by the older boy, she went over to him and began to try teasing him further. "Sit boy. Sit."

Cliff looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. It wasn't that he was confused by her actions. In fact, he knew exactly what she was going. She was trying to get him to act like her pet. As if to spite Layla, Cliff stood up, walked over to Shana who still sat over on the bench, merely on-looking, and squatted in front of her. "Woof." He said, in a rather dull tone.

The shy girl giggled a bit to herself, pulling a slightly closed hand up over her mouth. The near three-year-old slowly reached down with one hand to pat the top of the boy's head, clearly nervous at how he may react.

"Woof." Cliff repeated, not even bothering to look up at the girl who was now playing with his hair. He simply sat down in front her, watching his hands as he fumbled with the hem of his shirt. Layla made a sour face in seeing that Cliff had spoiled the game she had wanted to play, but quickly lost interest and ran over to where her father was.

Lunch had nearly become a ceremonious activity. Every day, the four children, now five although Andrew didn't participate in this event, would be gathered to one of the tables in the guild. Sandwiches, juice boxes, crackers, and berries were spread in front of the kids on paper plates. Shana would usually sit and calmly nibble on the food either of her parents placed on her plate, while Layla would be about to jump out of her seat in anticipation for the food she was about to stuff happily into her mouth. Since Zach was able to eat the crackers and berries on his own, Gajeel or Levy would usually just sit next to him to help him with his juice and rip the sandwiches into little bit sized pieces. Instead of sitting close to the others, Cliff had a tendency to scoot all of his things over to the end of the table where he would eat sandwich after sandwich until her had finished everything on his plate.

After the banquet of lunch food, it was 'chase down Layla until she drops' time. Natsu would get help from Loke to catch the little ball of energy and get her to take a nap, which she always fell asleep for the second she lay down. The only trouble was getting her into the room in the back which was lined with cots for the small children. Shana would always be carried over with ease to her cot, although it would take either Gray or Juvia sitting with her and rubbing her back for a while before she managed to fall asleep. Zach would normally fall asleep draped over Gajeel's back, who would be sleeping anyways. Because of this, Gajeel was nominated to 'watch' the kids as they slept. Although everyone knew this was just to get him out of the way while he took a nap of his own.

"You sure you don't want to sleep even for a bit?" Lisanna asked Cliff, who quietly flipped through a catalog of Sorcerer Weekly, looking at the pictures of the different mages. He would try to read some of the smaller articles and interviews, but didn't come out successful despite being five years old.

"I'm fine." He said, looking up from an article about what he only assumed was something about a specific guild. "I don't really get tired during the day."

"That's probably because you aren't as active as the others." Erza commented, earning a shrug in response. The red haired mage watched the boy for a bit. She could tell from how his expression would change that he wasn't able to read the words of the article he was looking at. "Want me to teach you?"

"E-eh?" Cliff looked up at the woman like she was crazy. He had heard about her crash courses from hell, and would much rather not attend them himself.

"Come on." She grabbed the small boy's wrist and pulled him up from his spot of the ground. "Follow me."

"Y-yes Ma'am." The gray haired boy reluctantly followed the woman as she lead pulled him out of the guild hall. The fact that many people were wishing him good luck as he was dragged away didn't help calm his nerves about the whole situation. He prayed for his own safety some as he was lead to what very well may be a living hell.

~*~*~ Two Months Later ~*~*~

Cries filled the guild hall and bounced off the walls. The sounds of the new born children echoed along with the sounds of their mothers trying to get them to quiet down. This action however, was only sometimes effective. The cried of the babies was somewhat of a chain reaction. One would begin crying, which would disturb another, who would then cry in turn, and so on and so forth. When one became too loud, or was taking too long to quiet down, they would be taken into one of the back rooms as to not disturb the rest of the guild for too long.

Levy sat down on a chair pushing an iron cradle, courtesy of Gajeel, with two little babies sleeping inside. The news that Levy had given birth to twins surprised everyone. Since neither of the parents had said anything about it, the idea had never even crossed anyone's mind. But, in the cradle lay a very identical looking pair, one boy and one girl. The older of the two, by only a few minutes, was a little boy named Kory. His sister's name was Jenny. The two caused the majority of the noise and disturbances among the new bourns, but still were rather mild mannered.

Sitting in a rocking chair, happily humming a little tune to the child in her arms was Mirajane. Freed happily sat nearby, looking at his wife and child with wonder in his eyes. Their daughter's name was Julia, although Mira only ever called her Darling. The small girl was very quiet and would easily calm down if she were to start crying. It seemed as though loud noises disturbed her because of how she would react to the echoes around her, so the parents of this small baby would always try to keep her in the quieter parts of the guild if they could.

Sitting next to her sister, and a bit more awkwardly than the others, was Lisanna. The daughter of her and Laxus had only just been born earlier that week, and the woman wasn't quite used to the whole ordeal. Although she did receive plenty of help from Mira and the other women around the guild, even Natsu which would amuse her form time to time. The youngest baby in the guild's name was Emma. After arguing about the name for quite a while, Lisanna and Laxus had managed to agree on the name. This of course meant that Lisanna had chosen it on her own, and Laxus had been of no help what so ever. Although he seemed to be pretty good at taking care of the child so far. He rather enjoyed holding Emma as she slept and from time to time would play a little game which involved the baby grabbing onto his finger.

The guild was nothing but loud at this point. While there had been plenty of noise beforehand, adding in all of these new bourns, as loved as they were, made it seem as if the noise may explode from the walls and windows. Even still, none of the casual drinkers, mainly referring to Cana, complained about the children. Although most of the time that was in fear of offending the rather deadly parents of said children. In all actuality, the guild was probably more on edge than ever before. Everyone was so nervous about the possibility of hurting one of the babes that whenever one started crying, anyone nearby froze and looked around to make sure they hadn't done anything. Even Master Makarov was more cautious about his surroundings than usual.


	19. Fights

It was the middle of the day, and sunlight was faintly shining through the trees as Natsu lead Layla into a good distance into the forest that surrounded Magnolia. The small blonde girl was jumping up and down with so much excitement that Natsu was afraid that she might just explode. Finally, after what felt like a lot longer than usual, the pair made it to the clearing that Natsu had always trained in. He hadn't used it in a while, but now he was glad that he had remembered to clear all the grass and sticks out of the way on a regular basis.

"Ok," Natsu said, turning to his daughter. "Are you ready for your first training session?"

"Yep!" Layla cheered, raising one arm high into the air.

Layla had been waiting for this day for weeks now. After bothering her father about it for what seemed like forever, Natsu had finally agreed to start teaching Layla how to use magic. He had been extremely cautious about the idea at first, knowing that then Layla would start going on missions and getting into fights, but he knew that she would have to learn. The small blonde girl desperately wanted to learn the same Dragon-Slayer magic as her father, so of course he was going to teach her. He knew that she would be a good fighter; after all, she was his child. On top of that, there was no way he was going to let some second rate fire mage try to teach Layla.

"Awesome!" Natsu ruffled Layla's hair, earning a happy giggle from her. Then he scratched the back of his head with one "Now how am I gonna do this?" The fire mage looked around the clearing for an idea. Natsu was not known for his teaching abilities, and didn't actually know where to start. But he had been so sure that he'd figure it out when he got there, that he didn't actually bother planning anything. Soon his eyes settled on the large tree that he had used as a punching bag in the past. The old mat that he had wrapped and tied around it was still in place, although it was a big worn. Natsu motioned for Layla to follow him and lead her over to the tree. "Now, before you learn how to use magic, you should train your body."

"Like get all strong and stuff?" Layla asked, coxing her head to the side.

"Exactly." The pink haired male nodded. "So we're gonna start by training your body some. See this mat?" He pointed to the mat on the tree with his thumb. "You're gonna punch it ten times a day. That way you'll get a little better at fighting as we go. But we're also gonna work on other mussels, so after you do your ten for today we'll go for a run through the forest."

Layla gave an excited nod and ran up to stand in front of the tree. Natsu spent a while teaching her the proper way to punch before letting the small blonde do her punches for the day. Since she wasn't used to punching anything, Layla had to stop after almost everyone in order catch her balance and set up for the next punch. Once that was over, Natsu lead the way through the forest, running at a slow pace so that Layla was able to keep up.

"Daddy's teaching me magic!" Layla cheered, grinning up at a group of mages inside the guild.

"Really?" Mirajane, who was sitting nearby, let off a small laugh at the blonde child's excitement. The white haired mage cradled her own daughter in her arms. "That must be fun."

"It is! It is!" Layla jumped up and down, clapping her hands together. "It makes me really tired though, but he says that I should be able to use magic really really soon!"

"I thought you said you were gonna wait a bit more." Lisanna asked Natsu, letting out a small chuckle in the process.

"Yeah well," The pink haired mage brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "I started learning when I was younger than her. So I guess I just sort of figured it wouldn't hurt."

"I'm gonna use dragon slayer magic just like Daddy!" Layla tackled her father, wrapping her arms around his legs. She looked up at him with a large grin spread across her face.

"Does it work that way?" Erza questioned. The red haired woman had been sitting at the table across from the white haired sisters. Cliff sat next to her, reading that week's issue of Sorcerer Weekly.

Natsu shrugged. He didn't actually know if he could train Layla to use the same exact type of magic he could. Sure, he could show her everything there was to know about fire magic, but he had no idea if he could teach the dragon slayer portion. The male didn't even remember how he had learned it, so he only just assumed that he would be able to teach in the first place.

"Maybe you could call it Fourth Generation?" Erza said. "Assuming it works, that is."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Natsu smiled down at his daughter, ruffling her blonde hair. He then picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder, and began walking off deeper into the guild hall.

"Is magic really all that great?" Cliff asked, having diverted his attention away from the magazine he had been reading to watch the father daughter pair leave.

Erza raised an eyebrow at the young boy's question. She had a slight smirk on her face, as if she found it amusing. "Of course it is." She said matter-of-factly. "Magic is a wonderful thing."

"Maybe you should try learning some." Lisanna jumped into the conversation. "I'm sure you'd like it if you tried it."

Cliff looked away the moment the white haired mage spoke. There was a clear frown on his face, and he didn't say anything more. After staring at a spot of the floor for a while, he turned back to reading the article he had been going through. He continued to read the magazine until he suddenly felt something cold sliding down his back. The sudden chill on his spine made him jump up from his seat and let out a sharp hiss. He quickly whirled around, trying to find who could have been responsible for the sudden surprise. When he did turn around, he saw Layla and Shana. The blonde girl seemed to be cracking up, holding her stomach as she laughed. The other girl stood shyly behind her, only a slight smile on her face.

"The hell was that!?" He yelled, shaking out the back of his shirt in order to get rid of the cold sensation.

"Ice." Layla giggle. "What did you think it was?"

Before Layla could even react, Cliff jumped the girl, tackling her to the ground. The blonde let out a squeak as she fell over and brought her arms out in front of her. She grabbed onto Cliff's shirt and pushed at them, shifting their weight until they rolled over. Legs kicked and arms flailed as the pair continued to wrestle on the floor. The majority of the guild stopped what they had been doing in order to watch them; many had even started placing bets on who they believed would win.

Natsu pushed his way through the crowd of mages, making his way towards Layla. When he finally reached his daughter he wrapped his arms around her and pealed her away from Cliff. Even after he had picked her up, she continued to let out growls and tried to lunge forward at the gray haired boy. When Natsu looked up, he saw that Cliff was also being held by the back of his shirt by Erza. It looked as if the boy was scared stiff that the woman had grabbed him, and he didn't blame the kid. He would be just as scared.

"You really shouldn't pick fights like that." Lisanna came up to Cliff after the crowd had cleared away some. Since she had place Emma down for a nap not too long ago, it was one of the rare moments were she wasn't holding the child.

Cliff let out a huff and looked away from the lady. "Don't tell me what to do." He muttered.

"Cliff," Erza sighed. "Don't be rude."

"I don't mind Erza." Lisanna waved her hands in front of her. "He's just a child after all."

"So what!?" Cliff yelled. His hands were clenched into tight fists and he looked up at Lisanna with anger in his eyes. "So what if I'm a kid! It's not like you're any better than me! So you're a grown-up! So you have a kid! Why does that make you think you can just be all close to me?" The mages in the guild started turning their heads back towards the boy, wondering what the problem was now. "Do you think you're better than me? Is that why you think I'll just suddenly like you? Well I don't! I hate you! You're stupid, you never leave me alone, you think that you can just jump into everything and have everyone just accept it!" Cliff's chest was heaving.

Erza reached out to grab onto the boy's arm, only to have it batted away by his hand. "Cliff! Don't say those things."

"I'll say what I want!" The boy yelled. "I hate her! She thinks she knows everything about me when she doesn't know anything! She thinks I'll just agree with everything she says! And she thinks she can control me!" Cliff turned back towards Lisanna. "You're absolutely useless, but you keep telling me this and that! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO DIE?!"

A loud smack echoed throughout the guild hall, bouncing off the walls. The entire guild went silent at what had happened. Laxus stood over Cliff, who was now on the floor. The lightning mage's arm was out, and there was a large red mark on Cliff's cheek. Cliff sat up, rubbing the burning spot on his cheek. He looked around the guild, seeing the faces of everyone around him. No one would look him in the eye. Everywhere he looked he saw nothing but harsh faces that all seemed to be against him.

"Fine." He muttered. In a quick flash Cliff picked himself off the floor and sprinted out of the guild. He could feel the stared burning into him as he pushed through the large wooden doors of the guild, but he kept running, not even stopping to look back.

"Are you ok?" Mirajane went up to her sister, giving her a hug.

"Can you believe him?"

"How could he say something like that?"

"To Lisanna no less."

"Guys!" Erza yelled, silencing the entire hall once again. Everyone looked at her, wondering why she had called their attention. "He only just came here. How would he know?"

"Damn it!" Natsu slammed his fist against one of the many tables, realization hitting him.

"We should go find him then, right?" Wendy brought up.

~*~*~An hour later~*~*~

Cliff sat among the roots of a large tree. His knees were pulled up in front of him and his forehead was rested against them. He heard a rustling in the brush behind him and quickly whipped his eyes. "What do you want?"

"To talk." Erza came up beside the boy and sat down. She had apparently taken off her usual armor, settling for the white blouse and blue skirt that she seemed to own thousands of copies of. She sat down in silence, neither saying a single word to each other. The silence was a bit awkward, and if it weren't for the sounds of animals and the wind in the trees, it would have been utterly silent. "You know," Erza began after a few minutes. "Lisanna died once before. Although she wasn't really dead, it was painful for everyone in the guild."

Cliff raised his head a bit, still looking away from the woman next to him. "I….I didn't know that."

"I know you didn't." The red haired mage looked over to the boy. She had a calm smile on her face, although she knew he couldn't see her. "So does everyone else. They just didn't realize until after you ran off." Erza waited for a response. But when Cliff still didn't say anything, she let out a sigh and kept talking. "No one will stay mad at you; I'll make sure of that. It's not your fault that you didn't know about Lisanna, but you shouldn't have said something like that."

"Yes Ma'am." Cliff whispered. "But…..it just…" Cliff slowly looked up at Erza. He held his still red cheek in one of his hands while the other whipped away the tears that had begun to build in his eyes. "It hurts. It hurts so much."

Erza leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the small boy as he began crying. She pulled him up so that he was sitting on her lap, and to her delight, he didn't try to pull away. "It's ok." She whispered, patting his back lightly.

When Cliff calmed down Erza loosened her hold on him so that she could look him in the eyes. The dark haired boy continued to let out sniffles and gulp down air as he tried to steady his breathing. As he did this, Erza began fixing his clothes, evening out the wrinkles and making sure it was rested nicely on his body. When she finished with his clothes, Erza moved onto his hair. It had gotten messy, so she ran her fingers through it repeatedly, combing it out. Cliff tried to hold back laughs as it felt like Erza was tickling him. When the woman noticed, she began to tickle the back of his neck. She chuckled herself as he squirmed on her lap, trying to avoid the hands that had begun to move down to his sides. The second they hit his stomach, Cliff broke out into a loud laughter.

"S-Stop it!" He laughed, unable to control himself anymore. "M-Mamma!"

The two both froze when Cliff called her that. It felt as if everything had stopped and stood still as they each tried to figure out what had just happened. Cliff's face went white, realizing what he had just said would not easily be taken back.

"N-no." He said, holding his hands up in front of him. "I didn't….I meant….. I-"

The boy was cut off when Erza pulled him in for another hug. This time she cradled him more closely. Although at first Cliff didn't know how to respond, he quickly leaned in, trying to hug the woman back. The pair sat like that for a while before finally separating.

"Why don't we go home now?" Erza gave a gentle smile. She lifted a hand up to rub a patch of dirt off the boy's face.

Erza carried Cliff on her back the entire way back to dorm building. Although the boy had complained about it, he still was unable to fight the woman off no matter how hard he tried. Cliff was a bit surprised to find out how tired he was. He had nearly fallen asleep on Erza's back, and the moment they made it back into the large set of conjoined rooms he nearly fell over before he was able to change into him pajamas. Sleep about to overtake him, he climbed into the bed, lying down immediately. He could feel the other side of the bed being weighed down as Erza got on the bed as well, then the sudden warmth that covered him when she pulled the blankets over his shoulders.

"Good night Cliff." Erza said as she leaned in and brushed the hair away from the boy's face. She let out a smile and began to head to sleep herself, leaving her arms draped over the boy. She could feel the heat radiating off of his smaller body and found it extremely comforting.


	20. As Things Change

**Three Years Later**

The guild was bursting with excitement as usual. The sounds of laughter and cheers echoed throughout the room, doubling, if not tripling, the amount of noise. Much of the sound bubbled around either the bar, or just a few table rows away, where the children all were. Today, however, there was a larger crowd than usual surrounding one of the long wooden tables. Miscellaneous voices called out bets and arms launched money into a het, being manned by Happy, while the guilds attention to the event taking place.

Standing on top of the table were two children, Layla and Cliff to be exact. The blonde girl cracked her knuckles, a grin planted across her face. Cliff on the other hand looked less excited for what was to come, and fumbled with the lining of his pockets.

"Do we really have to do this?" The nine-year old boy asked.

"Of course!" Layla huffed. "I challenged you so we're gonna fight! Unless, you're a little chicken." The blonde stuck out her tongue and flapped her arms to mimic the strange bird. Her plan to make the boy across the table from her mad worked. Cliff scowled at the girl and lifted a fist. A magic circle formed around it, and soon a sword appeared in his hand.

"I'm warning you, I'm not going easy this time." Cliff took a fighting stance.

"You better not!" Layla let her face become ever so slightly more serious. A red flame burst around both of her hands.

"Alright ladies and germs!" Happy yelled. He appeared on the table between the two kids wearing a little tux, a magic microphone floated by his head. "This marks the 17th fight between Layla Dragneel and Cliff Scarlett! So far, the overall total of victories on both sides is five wins for Cliff, four wins for Layla, and seven ties! Now then… Let's begin!"

Happy flew off just in time for the two little mages to lunge at each other. Cliff made the first strike with his sword, although it was dodged by Layla who jumped over the blade right before it would have clipped her side. A few fireballs were launched as Layla began to force Cliff backwards. Another magic circle glowed around Cliff's free hand, and soon a metal shield was strapped to his forearm. The cheers of the crowd that was still around the table was joined with the sound of Layla's fists and feet, covered in flames, colliding with the shield. But even with the newly appeared shield, the force of the fire balls continued to push Cliff back before he had the time to swing his sword out and lash back at the girl. It wasn't long before the two reached the end of the table, and Cliff's lost his balance at the end of the table, therefore falling to the floor. He barely had the time to turn himself onto his back and crawl away before Layla jumped off and landed on top of him. Cliff returned his shield to where ever it had come from, and swung his sword down over Layla's head. The blonde girl caught it between her hands just inches before the blade would have come down on her forehead.

"That was a close one." Layla said. Her voice had a hint of surprise, as if she hadn't even expected that Cliff could even have a chance at beating her.

"Just hurry up and let me beat you already." Cliff said through gritted teeth.

"Why? You can't win on your own?" The eight year old giggled before making a quick sweep at the boy above her's ankle with her own. Unable to recover quickly enough to keep his balance, Cliff went crashing to the grown. This time, Layla was able to climb on top of him and sit on his chest before the boy was able to get up.

"Fine! I give! I give!" Cliff scrambled under the weight of the girl.

Layla grinned and triumphantly hopped off of the older boy. "Haha! Win number five for me! Looks like we're tied once again!"

"Yeah, yeah." The gray haired boy grumbled as he sat up on the hardwood floor, rubbing at his now bruised backside.

The crowd that had been around them now dissipated. Few came up to actually congratulate Layla on her victory, some teased Cliff for losing to the girl. From the group of people that moved around them, emerged a little girl and boy, both running up to greet them.

"Hey Shana!" Layla called out rather loudly considering the girl was practically next to her. "Did you see that? I won by a landslide!"

"You should really more careful next time." The dark haired girl squeaked.

"Oh come on Shana! I'm fine." Layla tried to reassure Shana.

"Um…" The boy who stood next to Shana, at almost the same height, butted in. "You should stop fighting on tables."

"But if we don't then people just get in our way." Layla stated as if it was some well known fact. "Right Cliff?"

Cliff looked at Layla as he picked his sword up off the ground. Instead of returning it to it's magical storage space, he slipped it between his belt and pants so that it hung from his side. "Don't listen to her Zach." He walked over the the boy and slung his arm around his shoulder. "She's just an idiot."

"Don't say mean stuff like that." Shana frowned at the boys' actions, seeing as they both laughed at the remark.

The four kids chatted and played around some more. Watching them from a little ways away was the usual group of parents that all seemed to be grouped together.

"Nice job Layla." Erza smirked. "Although I'm sure that Cliff will win the next one."

"Not a chance!" Natsu, being the doting father that he is, began to defend his daughter's fighting ability. "She's my little girl, so of course she'll win!"

"Hey Flamebrain." Gray called over to the pinkette. "You seem to be forgetting that Cliff has already won five of the fights before this one."

"Dumb luck!" Natsu huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. He looked over at his daughter, who was now sitting happily on the floor with the other three kids, and smiled. He noticed the slight tear in her cranberry colored skirt, inwardly groaning when he realized that he would have to fix it. Sewing had never been his strong point, and never will. He considered himself lucky that he knew of some people, specifically a very "manly" seven-foot-tall ogre of a man, who were very good at it.

"Gray." The ice mage turned around when he heard his name called. His cheek was instantly met with a kiss from Juvia, who had their three-year old son walking next to her. The boy watched with wide eyed and curious at the transaction. "You're going to be taking Andy out today, right?"

"That's the plan, isn't it big guy?" Gray lowered his hand toward his son, who quickly jetted out a hand and gave his dad a high-five. "We'll probably leave in an hour."

"When do you think you'll be back?" The blue haired woman asked. There was almost a look of worry on her face, as if the two "men of the house" going wherever they were going was something to be concerned about.

"Hmmm." Gray thought about it. "Depends on how quickly he picks it up. But considering who he's learning from, it's shouldn't be more than a day or two."

"Where are you going?" Erza asked, jumping into the affairs of the married couple.

"Mount Hacabe." Gray smiled. Upon hearing the name of the mountain, Andy perked up a bit and began to look a lot more excited for what was to come.

"Oh my. You're going all the way up there?" Mirajane, who had been passing out drinks, asked.

"Ice mages need ice." Gray stated matter-of-factly. "And that's the closest mountain with a snowy top."

"Just promise me you'll at least get ready." Juvia sighed. It was clear as day to anyone that she wasn't particularly happy about Gray taking her three year old son on top of a snow covered mountain. But Gray had insisted that now was the perfect time for the boy to start training. When Shana had been learning magic, it just happened to be a rather snowy week in Magnolia, so Gray hadn't needed to take her farther than their own back yard. But since it wasn't quite snow season yet, and Gray was pushing for the training to start now, it was off to the mountain for the two Fullbuster boys.

"I'm wearing shorts aren't I?" Gray said sarcastically, but quickly fixed himself as Juvia shot him a near deadly glare. "Just kidding. I've got a whole bag packed with everything from food to matches."

"I suppose that'll be good enough." Juvia half smiled.

The water mage sat down next to her husband and shooed Andy away so that he could have some play time before Gray took him out for his first training in the snow. With that, the adults began talking once more. Now that the majority of their kids were grown up a bit more, they didn't need as much supervision. Gajeel always seemed to have his hand's full with the twins, who loved climbing on top of him and hanging off of his arms, while Levy sat, once again holding a baby in her arms. The youngest was a little boy who was not quite a year old. Mira's daughter Julia was like a little princess in regards to how polite she was being raised. She was perfectly calm about every little thing and was never one to raise her voice. This was quite in contrast to her cousin, and best friend, Emma, who acted more like a little boy than a little girl. So far, Emma had one little brother, with another on the way. The children were all blondes, and resembled their father in more ways than just looks. They all seemed to have that "rough around the edges" personality, although no one could deny even Laxus' sweet side. Thankfully, all of the kids seemed to get along relatively well. Sure, there was the occasional fight, like the one between Layla and Cliff, but since they were all still young, there was never any large explosions or huge injuries.

After an hour passed, Gray gathered up his backpack and grabbed onto Andy. The two were now standing by the door, both wearing only their underwear.

"Are you ready for some training?" Gray asked the little black haired boy.

"Y-yeah!" The little boy shouted nervously. He balled up his little fists and brought them up under his chin.

"We're gonna train super hard, got it?"

"Y-yeah!"

The father-son pair was being watched by the group that planning on sending them off. Juvia had asked repeatedly if the underwear was necessary, but since she couldn't argue with the methods that had taught Gray ice magic, she was forced to accept it.

"Just be careful now." Juvia said with a smile.

"Of course we'll be careful." Gray smiled at her. "You know I'll protect him with everything I've got."

That seemed to bring some amount of reassurance back to Juvia. She gave one last hug and kiss farewell to both her son and her husband before they opened up the front doors of the guild. "Oh, and Gray." She called out.

"Yes?" He looked back over his shoulder.

"If he comes back with the same stripping habit as you, then you're both sleeping outside until it's fixed." The sweet smile on the water mage's face came off more so as devilish, and a shiver went down Gray's spine. He looked towards Andy, who had a backpack of his own on his shoulders.

"You heard the woman." Gray said, earning a nod. "Well then, let's go!" The two then paraded off into the city, making their way towards the mountain. Those who had stood by the door watched until the pair was out of sight before returning to whatever they had been doing before hand.

"Betcha ten jewels that Andy's gonna have it worse than Gray." Gajeel said to Natsu once the two were out of Juvia's ear shot.

"Deal."


	21. Counting Sheep

"Do you have your toothbrush?" Natsu asked as he sorted through the suitcase of his eleven year-old daughter.

"Yes Daddy." Layla nodded.

"What about a snack for the road?"

"Daddy, I said I'm fine." The blonde rolled her eyes. "I told you that I have everything."

"I know sweetheart." The girl's father nodded closed the suitcase back up. "What about a lacrima so that you can call in if you're in any trouble?"

"Daddy!" Layla yelled at her father and huffed out her cheeks.

"Sorry. I'll stop." Natsu apologized. "You know I'm just nervous. And you don't have to go by yourself if you don't want to. There's plenty of time for you to maybe change your mind and decide not to go, or ask me to go too."

"Cliff, Shana and Zach are all coming too, so I wont be alone. And I still have Loki's key with me so if anything goes wrong, he'll be there. Besides, if I turn back now I'll never hear the end of it." Layla said. "And plus I've gone on plenty of missions with you Daddy. I'm ready, I promise!" The blonde grabbed a small shoulderbag and hung it over her jacket, then pulled up the handle of her suitcase and began making her way out of the house.

"You can never be too cautious." Natsu grinned and opened the door before Layla could reach it. He reached down and grabbed the suitcase from her, with her giving little protest, then made sure that she was right next to him before he began walking. Natsu was nervous, which was a feeling he didn't experience too often. Of course, his nerves were entirely justified. This was Layla's very first mission without him. By the time Layla had learned to fight and use magic well enough, which was around nine years old, Natsu began taking her out on missions with him. They were never hard ones like what he normally liked, but they were great for Layla to learn exactly what going on missions meant, and use her magic from time to time.

The pink-haired fire mage let out an uneasy breath, which didn't go unnoticed by Layla. "Daddy? I can still go on this mission, right?"

Natsu looked down at his little girl, seeing the worried look on her face, and sighed. He kneeled down in front of her and gave her a big hug. "Of course you can my darling little Layla. It's just hard to see you grow up so quickly."

"I'm still your little girl though, right Daddy?" Layla asked.

"You'll always be my little girl." Natsu grinned. "Forever and always, no matter what happens, you'll always be my sweet little angel." He brought a hand up and cupped his daughter's cheek, rubbing it against her gently. He watched as her chocolate brown eyes glistened with excitement and joy, and her smile spread all the way across her face. It was an expression that was all too familiar to Natsu, and he could never get enough of it no matter how many times he saw it. "You look more like your mother now than you ever have before. She would have loved to see you off."

Layla's eyes went wide, and for a split second she could have sworn she saw tears welling up in her father's eyes. She had heard plenty about her mother, from just about everyone in the guild. But no matter how many stories she had heard, the ones that Natsu told her were always the best. From what Layla knew, her mother, Lucy was her name, had been a really strong mage who was loved by everyone in the guild, always had a lot of friends, and was really beautiful. To her, being told she was like her mother was a compliment, even if she had never met her. But deep down, Layla wished she was more like her father. To her, Natsu had always been everything to her, the worlds best role model, even if no one else thought so.

"Well then," Natsu stood up. "We don't want you to be late now, do we?"

By the time the pair made it to the large door of the guild building, the rest of the children going on the mission were already waiting outside, parents with them. Layla ran up to join them. She got a tongue-lashing from Cliff for being late, but even so the atmosphere around the four kids was nothing but happy. There was a very long round of goodbyes and constant reminders to stay safe, before the children were finally allowed to head out on their first mission.

"Alright! Let's go!" Layla cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Zach was the only other one who let out a cheer, but Shana and Cliff both showed their excitement through large smiles and chatter. Layla seemed to take charge and lead the way to the train station, although she basically just walked in the front. The four received some strange looks from the workers at the station, several of which asked if they were lost or where their parents were. Cliff, who looked a bit pissed off by being treated like such a little kid when he was nearly thirteen, took out the flyer for the mission they had taken out and began showing it off to anyone who even came near them. Soon they were all loaded on the train. They managed to fit all of their suitcases under the seats and didn't have to lift them up onto the compartment above.

"Make sure you don't get motion sick." Cliff stuck his tongue out at Layla.

"I don't get sick like my dad." Layla stuck her tongue out too. She sat herself down on one of the two benches, which faced each other, right next to Shana. Her best friend had already taken off her navy blue coat, revealing the the tips of her black Fairy Tail tattoo from under her white and gray sundress.

Layla was always mystified by the fact that she and her friends finally all had their guild marks. Zach had been the last of them, and just got his this year. The blonde girl happily took her coat off and inspected the pink mark that was placed on her shoulder, the same place as her father's. She looked at it as if to make sure it was still there. Layla then remembered where everyone else had placed theirs. Shana's was on the left side of her chest, placed a little high so that it went over her collarbone and threatened reach her neck. It was a bold placement on her part. The shy girl had surprised a lot of people with it, but Shana seemed to like saying that it was placed over her heart. Cliff's tattoo wasn't nearly as unpredictable. His was a dark red one placed on his upper back. As for Zach, his tattoo was a bit odd to Layla. For whatever reason he had decided to place a large grey Fairy Tail symbol on the side of his right leg, just a bit below the knee. Since his leg was still so small, the edges of the tattoo wrapped around his shin and back of his calf, almost as if it were a hand grabbing hold of his leg.

The train ride itself was rather smooth, but very long. The four children received plenty of glances as other passengers passed by. But they ignored them in favor of chatting, eating some sandwiches, courtesy of Shana, and discussing only the most important topic; pirates versus ninjas.

"I'm telling you! Ninja's all the way!" Layla stated with the utmost confidence before stuffing her face with a peanut butter and corossol jelly sandwich.

"Are you kidding me?" Cliff looked at the blonde like she was insane, which basically was the same look he always gave her. "Pirates can travel where ever. They've got huge ships, crews, style, booze: they're basically a guild on water."

"Ninja's are the coolest though. All stealthy and stuff." Layla's words were barely understandable through the sticky condiments and bread.

"Layla." Shana drew the attention of her dearest friend. "Don't talk with your mouth full like that."

The young fire mage let out a puff of air through her nose, but complied none the less. After chewing thoroughly and swallowing, she attempted to rebuild her argument. It was clear to anyone that she didn't have much of a basis for her side. "Well, what about you Shana? Pirates or Ninjas?"

"Hmm." The mini-ice Mage took a moment to think about it. "I suppose I don't have a preference really."

Completely in sync, both Cliff and Layla then turned their heads to Zach, betting on him as their last resort to prove who was right. The younger boy looked up from the book he had been quietly reading, glanced between his two friends, then looked back to his book. He turned the page calmly. "Zombies." His responce only earned groans from the two competing children.

~ One Day Later ~

The sun baked down on all four children equally, and all the sheep in between. Their mission was simple: guard a flock of sheep as it crossed from one side of an open plane to another. The mission itself was an easy one, not even wolves were around the area this time of year, so there was nothing to worry about at all. But no one had mention that this was the hottest point in the summer.

Cliff had requiped out of his armor so that he was just walking in shorts and a teeshirt. Normally he could only exchange weapons, and his arsenal was extremely limited compared to his mother's, but he had learned to at least store his daily armor. He pulled a staff out of a magic circle and tied a bell to the top of it, using it as a walking stick for himself and a way to direct the sheep. He, of course, was walking in front.

The other kids had all done their own thing to keep cool. Shana had pulled a sun hat out of her backpack, as well as a parosol: Anything to keep the sun off of her perfectly pale skin. She had taken off her jacket, revealing a navy blue undershirt, and stripped off of her tights from under her knee-length skirt. Layla, who walked in the back of the flock, wore only the bare minimum, her shorts and a tank-top, but wasn't sweating in the slightest. If anything she looked more comfortable in the heat. She did tie her hair up in a ponytail though. Her little pink stripe was easily seen with all of her hair tied back. The funniest, or maybe smartest, was Zach. The boy had taken off his shirt, wrapping it around his head in a mock turban. Instead of marching as part of the herd he lay on top of one of the fatter sheep, his bare stomach to the sun.

"All in favor of not taking the blame for Zach's sunburn?" Layla raised a hand.

"Aye sir." Both Cliff and Shana called. From there time just passed by as it normally did when herding sheep; very, very slowly. There were markers along the side of the dirt road they were following that told how many more miles until they reached the next town, their final destination. Whenever Cliff saw a new one he would call it out, and earn at least one groan and one 'baaaah' in protest. They each knew that this was going to be a two day trip, which was the primary reason why Cliff also ended up carrying a tent over his shoulders.

It was a few mor hours before the sun looked like it was thinking about setting soon, and the quartet easily agreed to set up camp for the night. The two boys worked on pitching the tent, while the girls made diner. They had decided before hand to make an easy stew, using beef, potatoes, and most definitely not carrots.

"Don't you think it's weird to eat meat in front of the meat?" Zach asked, looking from his bowl to the resting sheep just a few feet away.

"They don't know what it is." Layla shrugged. "Besides, we're eating cow. More grass for them, right?"

The black haired boy thought about it a moment, but ultimately accepted the notion. Shana and Cliff just exchanged a look of mutual confusion, which quickly became laughter, both of which started by how easily Zach gave in to another one of Layla's ridiculous explanations.

As it became dark out the four mage children began taking shifts sleeping and watching the sheep. Zach started the night out, after taking a nap on top of the sheep he wasn't exactly tired in the start of the night. A few hour later was another story though. By the time Layla had come out to release to boy he was practically falling asleep in his seat.

"Ah. Thank you." He muttered as he crawled into the tent and instantly curled up to sleep, leaving Layla to watch the sheep in the dead of night.

The blonde didn't mind the dark at all. Her house with Nstsu was pretty poorly lit, at night they would just use their magic to walk around the room, so here Layla did about the same. She played with the fire pit she had made earlier, making the flames bigger and smaller, shaping them and picking up pieces of it in her hands. But just like any child in the dead of night, she soon got bored. It took her a few minutes of fumbling around with the hems if her clothes and kicking a rock or two before she finally decided to reach underneath her tank-top and pull out a chain. Attached to it was a little fairy shaped pendent, and an all too familiar golden key. Layla took the key and rubbed her thumb over it gently. "Hey there Loki. Wanna come out and play?"

As if her childish words were an incantation a golden light formed around herself and the key, and soon a tall man with a golden mane for hair and wearing a suit appeared. "Good evening Layla. Or I guess good night seeing how dark it is. How's the mission going?"

"Not much is going on really." Layla shrugged, watching the man sit down on the dirt patch next to her. "One of the sheep tried to escape though. Shana and I had to chase it down and bring it back."

"Really?" An almost cat-like grin appeared on Loki's face. "If that was the only time a sheep tried to leave then you must be a good shepherd. They can be pretty hard to handle some times."

"Don't you have Aries? Isn't that kinda mean?" Layla scrunched her nose and knit her eyebrows. She tried to sound... Intimidating? But despite accusing her guardian spirit, as she sometimes called him, of being rude to his celestial girlfriend, he still laughed.

"Haha. I don't know if I'd call it mean. I meant to say that they can be very spirited animals." The lion explained. "Aries, or course, is like no other, and I've grown to love her."

"Hmmm. I bet Mirajane would love to hear that." The mentioning of Fairy Tail's gossip queen made Loki's face drain white. As Layla remember, he had been a member of the guild once, and everyone knew him, although some of the newer members didn't know that far back. But either way, that meant Loki had years of experience with Mirajane's merciless rumors and schemes.

"I... Think you are way too young to be making threats like that." Loki stated. The two looked at each other for a moment before laughing. The lion spirit looked at Layla with an almost nostalgic smile, pretty similar to how he always looked at her actually. He watched the girl play with coals and flames. It took a lot to remember that she wasn't some little girl anymore, it wasn't as hard for him as Natsu though of course.

"I've grown up you know."

"Not mentally." The pair before the fire turned around and saw Cliff standing by the entrance of tent, his arms crossed over his chest, one hand low down enough to touch the tip of the sword he had strapped to his waist.

Layla puffed out her cheeks in defiance. "Least I'm not an idiot." She stuck out her tongue, but was brushed off with a simple shrug before the older boy sat down next to her.

"How're you Cliff?" Loki asked, trying to create a relatively calm environment.

"Don't you need to get back to the spirit world?" The gray hard boy glared at the spirit.

Loki studied the boy's expression for a bit. "I guess. Call on me anytime you need Layla." The golden haired man have the girl a hug and a kiss on the forehead before disappearing in a bright shimmer, leaving the usually argumentative pair alone, nearing the middle of the night.

"So..." Layla clicked her toes together. "Why are you up? It's not close to your shift yet, is it?"

"Couldn't sleep." The boy shrugged.

"Oh yeah? Did you try counting sheep?" Layla's remark was met with a punch to the arm.

"You were pretty loud, it woke me up." Cliff smirked at his teammates loss for words. "Don't worry about it. Zach kicked me in the face anyways."

"Haha! That's hilarious! Remind me to thank him in the morning." The blonde grinned, but earned a punch in the shoulder as a result. "Ouchie."

The two sat around for a while, someone saying a few words here and there but never any lengthy conversation. Both of them seemed to find interest in the fire pit, Cliff breaking apart pieces of woof and coals with his sword, and Laybe gathering the sparks in her hands, pulling them together and turning them into a little bite sized snack.

"Does that really taste good?" Cliff asked the gir next to him. To him in looked like Layla was eating a piece of candy, and if he had been an idiot he may have even wanted to try a taste.

"Outdoor fires like this are really yummy, but personally I think magic fire tastes the best." Layla explained, tossing another little ball of flames into her mouth with a smile.

"So, I know you don't eat your own fire, some weird fire mage obsession thing, but do you ever eat Natsu's?" Curiosity pained into Cliff as he brought up the subject. To his pleasure Layla looked like she was actually thinking about something for once.

"Wouldn't that be kind of... Incestuous?" Layla frowned, not quite sure if that was the word she wanted to use. She looked over at Cliff and saw a very similar look of confusion on his face. "Well, like, I'm his daughter, so wouldn't eating his flames be... I dunno. It sounds wrong though."

"I guess." The gray haired boy shrugged and scooped up a particularly large chunk from the fire pit and balanced it on his sword. He saw Layla's gaze shift to it and follow it as he moved his sword from side to side. "Do you fetch?"

"Excuse me?" The girl looked offended. "I'm not Happy. I don't 'fetch'."

"Happy's a cat. He doesn't either."

The two talked for a little while longer before Layla finally decided to end her shift go sleep. She curled up under a blanket next to Shana, and she almost instantly fell unconscious into her own little dream world. By the time she woke up, she was in the tent, only Cliff was still asleep, and a bit of light peaking into the tent. She let out a grumble and stretched out her limbs before fiddling with her hair and clothes before pulling herself out the tent into into the sunlight.

"Good morning Layla." Shana greeted her almost immediately. She was working on getting breakfast ready while Zach sat off the the side, watching the flock closely. He turned and nodded his own greeting.

The morning after that consisted entirely of packing camp back up, getting everything situated, doing a head count on all of the sheep, and then heading out for the final stretch of their trip. Day two of the walk was very similar to day one. Hot, muggy, and exhausting. The group of four half trudged their way down the path, their eyes lighting up the second they saw the town, but, of course, the corral they were leading the sheep to was located at the opposite end.

After dropping off all of the sheep, and confirming that they we all accounted for, Cliff took charge in accepting the pay from the client, and once the group was all situated on the train, finally heading home, he split it four ways.

"That should be 7000 Jewels each, right?" He confirmed the money in his hand, and looked around to make sure there were no complaints. Thankfully, there were none.

By the time the train actually pulled into Magnolia it was already dark out. The young mages all said their goodbyes before heading their separate ways. Levy had come to pick up Zach, gifting him with a new book upon his return. Shana was met by Andy, who, despite the cold night, was standing around with his shirt unbuttoned. The dark haired girl, being the lovely older sister she was, buttoned his shirt for him. Cliff and Layla looked at each other, and gave eachother nice fare-well punches in the arm before going their separate ways.

Layla walked her way home, pulling her suitcase behind her, when suddenly it was removed from her hand. The girl turned quickly, fists on fire, to attack the possible theif, until she gets a wiff of the oh-so familiar sent.

"Daddy!" She jumped into Natsu's arms, letting him carry all of her weight.

"Hello there my little darling." The man wrapped his arms around his daughter. "How was the mission?" Instead of a reply, Natsu got a little snore in his ear. The mage let out a chuckle, adjusting his hold on his now sleeping daughter, and pulled the little pink suitcase behind him. "Maybe I should just go on the next one with you."


	22. Puberty Sucks

"I said get off of me!" Fire jetted out of a closed fist, right into the jaw of a grown man. The man, tall with dark skin and clearly a regular at the local gym, was pushed back by the blast. He must have thought he would have been able to get away from the small fire shooter, but before he was even able to turn tail and run, a large block of ice fell on top of his head, knocking him unconscious. Layla got up off the ground, brushed off her arms, and grinned over at the maker of the ice cube. "Way to go Shana!"

The dark haired girl only nodded in return. Her fists were up over her face, a usual timid way of carrying herself when she fought, and a few flurries of snow surrounded her. Once given a response, Layla whirled back into action. A few of the members of the thief gang they were assigned to take out were left. One of which was pinned down by iron bars, courtesy of Zach, while the remaining three seemed to surround Cliff. Layla quickly jumped in line behind the boy, more specifically, jumping over the heads of adult men, and happening to land in place.

"You didn't over jump this time." Cliff commented, stepping back to to back with the girl.

"Shut up." The blonde hissed. "At least I can take care of my share on my own."

The young requip mage only shrugged before changing out his usual sword for a pair of daggers. The moment he did, the surrounding men jumped at the children, but unfortunately for them the pair was ready. Within mere minutes, the entirety of the crew was out cold, a mixture of bruises, cuts, burns, and frostbite evident on each.

"Heehee. That'll show'em." Layla grinned, giving Shana a big high-five.

"It wouldn't have even taken this long if you would have just stuck to the original plan, and gone in at the same time as me." Cliff hit the back of the younger girl's head with the butt of his sword, once again in his possession, before sliding it back into the sheath on his belt.

"Don't look at me! Zach's the one who sneezed." The black haired boy gave a questioning look at the finger that was pointed at him, not quite sure if he was ok with taking the blame for the situation.

"Now, now." Shana placed her hands on top of the arguing pairs shoulders. Her ice cold hands always worked some sort of calming magic on her fiery best friend. "Why don't we go back to town, gather our things, and see if we can make the next train to Magnolia?"

The group reached an agreement and worked their way back to the home of their employer. They collected their pay and split it evenly between the four of them so that each child would be going home with 5000 Jewels in their pockets. Once they had made sure to pack all of their belongings away, they ran to the train station just in time to hop on a train.

The trip back to Magnolia was an easy one, and only two hours long. But even that felt like too long after an exhausting mission. Of course, this was only made worse by Layla and Cliff being expected to quietly share a small space for an extended period of time. The two had reached those preteen years that caused many in the Fairy Tail to grown the moment the two stepped back into the guild building. Cliff, at fourteen years old, was starting to become more stubborn than ever, and at this point only ever listened to his mother, Erza. Layla on the other hand was a problem in her own right. Natsu would be the first to admit that dealing with the twelve year old girl was definitely not anything like what it used to be. His "little girl" was becoming so much more aware of her self and what growing up as a girl implied. While for her it meant worrying more about her hair and the clothes she wore, for Natsu it meant finding some other female to take Layla shopping for bras, and tremendously awkward trips to the store for some of the more sensitive "feminine products".

At this point the biggest concern was how the guild building would stay standing through all of the children in the guild growing up. As if they hadn't fought enough before, the sheer number of new mages within the guild, some still not quite able to used magic properly, was the cause of the majority of ware and tare in the building.

"Oh come on! I swear I didn't mean it!" Layla tried to wiggle her way out of her father's grip.

"Layla. You broke three tables." The original fire dragon slayer had his daughter slub over his shoulder. It mirrored a sack.

"Just let me down Daddy! The old perverts are all going to look up my skirt!" That caused Natsu to reevaluate the surrent situation. He decided to readjust, putting Layla back on the ground, but holding her back with an arm around her stomach. The blonde girl tried to push the arm away, but quickly realized it was not worth the effort. No matter how much she tried, she would never be able to over power her father.

"Haha. Almost serves you right." Kory and Jenny, Gajeel and Levy's twin children, came up to the older girl and laughed at her situation. The two often spoke in unison, which came off as both creepy and adorable concidering they were a pair of near matching seven year olds. Layla glarred at the two until they were done laughing and went back to where Andy, Julia and Emma sat together.

"You need to stop picking fights all the time." Natsu sighed. "I know they're a pain now, but they are your guild mates."

"Daddy," Big brown eyes looked up into her father's. "You and Gray are always fighting." Unfortunately for Natsu, his daughter had him practically wrapped ariund her finger. Soon she was let free, with the promise to avoid breaking things for the next week. The girl didn't go far with her new found freedom though. She went onlyy a few feet before plopping herself down on a bench next to Shana and some of the women of Fairy Tail.

"All thing's concidered, you're learning very well Layla." Juvia reached across her own daughter to brush the singular pink lock of Layla's hair out of her face.

"Thank's Juvia!" The pre-teen grinned at the praise. "I just get really excited and restless sometimes."

"Maybe you should look into a hobby?" The water mage suggested.

"Oh yeah!" Something in the conversation spiked Layla's memories, and she suddenly got very excited. "Get this. I was looking around at home right? I found a bunch of boxes in a basement filled with books!"

"Books?" Shana was both interested and confused at the same time, which was understandable. Neither Layla nor her father, especially her father really, came off as book fanatics. Sure, Layla did read on occation, but it just seemed strange for there to be a secret large collection of books in their house.

"Yeah. It's actually really cool." Layla explained. "I tried to read some of them, but most were really advanced. I found one that I really like so far though. I think it might be a series too because I found a few more with similar titles in the box."

"Books, huh?" Juvia smiled. The woman's face looked almost remenicent. In noticing the interest in both other the young girls' eyes, she did her best to pretend it wasn't a big deal. "Well, Juvia is going to go talk to you're father." She adressed her own daughter. "He has a very close friend visiting soon after all."

The two girls watched as Shana's mother left the table in search of her husband. "Someone's coming to the guild?" Layla asked her best friend.

The dark haired girl nodded. "Lyon, I think. Papa says that the two of them are like brothers, but he's in a different guild."

"He's from Lamia Scale." Cliff came up and sat on the bench across from the two girls. "A few years older than Gray, and apparently has a pretty cute wife."

"How the heck would you know?" The blonde fire mage raised an eyebrow at the other's plentyful knowledge on someone outside of the guild.

"Unlike you, I actually pay attention to what people tell me." It didn't take much for the two teens to start bickering. A few words like that and suddenly everything would escilate to yelling. It usually wasn't until swords and flames became apparently that anyone would step in to try and stop the two. This time, Layla only calmed down because of her previous agreement with the father, which apparently coudln't have come sooner. Cliff, on the other hand, didn't seem to get the memo. He continued to try to provoke the younger girl; calling her idiotic and weak just wasn't a good way to end their current situation. Usually, in moments like those, Erza would say just a few words and suddenly the boy was the most compliant person out there.

"I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do with her." Natsu rested he forehead against the bar counter, his hand around a mug of beer.

"I have no idea how you can do it." Gray patted his companions shoulder before returning to his own drink. "Shana's about to get to that age too. She's very easy going now, but who know's how that might change."

"They'll be just fine once they get out of their awkward phases." Mirajane smiled as she cleaned glasses on the other side of the bar. "Keep in mind, you used to be their ages. The world is still so new to them."

"Are you calling me old?" Natsu grumbled.

"God, don't even think that." Gray let out his own groan. "I thought we dodged a bullet, having kids young and all. But look at us, sitting at a bar and drinking."

"If you don't want to think about it then don't make me think about it!" Natsu growled.

"Now, now." Mira refilled both mugs of beer before attempting to change the subject a little. "I heard Layla mentioning books that she found in your basement?"

Natsu opened his mounth only to close it again. He turned around to scan the guild, spotting his daughter with Shana and Zach. "They're Lucy's." The fire mage let out a sigh, and rested his chin of the wooden counter once more. "I never had the heart to get rid of them... I don't know anymore. Do I tell her more about Lucy? Do I just keep going as we are?"

"Well, what does she need to know besides what she already does?" Mirajane asked. "Her mother was a strong, beautiful mage, who loved her guildmates."

"Yeah, but still. We don't even know what really happened to her." Natsu's grip on his mug tightened. His knuckles went white, and it wasn't until Gray nudged his shoulder once more that he began to calm down. Everyone understood it was a touchy subject, that much was most likely never going to change. It had been a little over twelnve years since Layla was born and Lucy dissapeared, and only seven years since it was decided that Lucy Heartifillia was legally dead.


	23. Visitors

"Andy, put your shirt back on." Juvia drew her son's attention back to the piece of black fabric that had been discarded and draped across one of the nearby railings. The little boy's face turned a light shade of pink, before he nodded and ran to put the clothing back on.

In these moments, Juvia would send a glare her husband's way. While it wasn't nearly as bad, Andy had a tendency to remove articles of clothing throughout the day. Unlike his father's spontaneous stripping though, the small ice mage would calmly remove his shirt or pants, fold them neatly, and put them somewhere they wouldn't risk getting lost or dirty. Andy always claimed that it was because he would get too hot, but it worried Juvia mostly because she knew it was likely to get worse. Unfortunately, Gray didn't seem to find any problem with his son walking around without a shirt, or pants for that matter. His attitude with Shana was a completely different story.

Gray's "precious daughter" had the same level of modesty as her mother. This meant that most of her outfits covered her body well, but also tended to be on the thick side. Of course, when it did get warm out, Shana would trade the long coats and stockings for spaghetti-strap dresses and a sunhat or parasol. She never liked being out in the sun for too long, which was good of her considering how easily her fair skin would burn. Even though the little girl was only ten years old, nearing eleven, Gray was already trying to shield her from the wandering eyes of the many boys, and what he referred to as "lecherous old men" in the guild.

Now the family almost seemed to be at a scramble to collect articles of clothing, and any other necessities, before leaving the house that day. Juvia took time to make sure each child was properly dressed. To her, this meant a black, short sleeved dress and white tights for Shana, and a white button down shirt, black shorts, and a thin navy ribbon tied in a knot under the collar for Andy. Shana also wore her usual navy blue jacket, which almost matched one that her mother had worn years ago. The Fullbuster siblings were near matching, which wasn't uncommon, neither was dressing in such nice clothes. Their mother was known for her attention to detail and neatness, and once she had decided that all was in it's place, she agreed that it was safe to exit the home.

That day Gray was expecting his friend, who he would almost consider to be his brother, Lyon to come by Fairy Tail for a quick visit. He had seen the fellow ice mage a number of times over the years, on larger missions or just by chance in a few towns, but neither ever visited each other's guilds as much as one would think. Because of this, Gray had never actually met the child that Lyon's wife Chelia had apparently given birth to a few years back. He had at least made it to the wedding though, so he didn't feel too bad. Odd enough though, or maybe not, Wendy had actually been witness to the birth of the child, and often went to Lamia Scale to visit. Although Wendy seemed to be in and out of the guild quite often lately. "Visiting her boyfriend" had been her excuse for the few months she had been with Eve from Blue Pegasus. She now mainly travelled, half for the sake of missions, half for the sake of travelling.

Shana and Andy went out to seek the company of their friends almost immediately after the Fullbuster family arrived at the Fairy Tail guildhall. It was half way through the morning by now, and Lyon wasn't expected until afternoon. This gave Gray the time to calm Juvia down so that she wouldn't have any problems seeing Lyon considering their awkward relationship years ago. He tried to reassure her that there was no way Lyon was going to express any amount of feelings toward her, especially not since he was bringing his own kid.

"I won't say anything about it Gray." Juvia told her husband. "But I'm not above giving him a personal raincloud if he does anything out of line."

"He won't Juvia. Trust me here." Gray was beginning to hope that Lyon loved his wife as much as he did when he married her.

A few tables down, Shana sat with Layla, Zach, and Cliff. The four each let one ear listen to the conversation that Gray and Juvia were having. It wasn't often that someone from another guild stopped by. Needless to say, the group of pre-teens were all very interested.

"Isn't this guy coming over supposed to be your uncle? Why does it sound like he had some mega crush on Juvia?" Layla asked in a half whisper, not wanting to caught gossiping.

"Papa isn't actually related to Uncle Lyon." Shana responded in an equally hushed voice. "I've only heard the stories when Papa, Uncle Natsu, and Cana were a little drunk, and a few times from Mirajane, but apparently there was some kind of love triangle when they were younger. That was before any of us were born though." She looked at the present company and reconsidered her statement. "Well, maybe you and Cliff had been born since you are older, but I can't be sure."

"That's so weird." The blonde fire mage scrunched her nose up and crossed her arms across her chest. "Wouldn't it be weird? Seeing someone who had a crush on you when you're married with kids?"

"You're forgetting something Fire-tard." Cliff interjected, causing Layla to shoot a nasty glare at him.

"Oh yeah? And what could that possibly be?"

"Lisanna had a thing for Natsu for the longest time, and they're still friends. Maybe if your head wasn't full of fire you'd be able to think before you spoke." The gray haired boy stuck his tongue out toward the younger girl, clearly mocking her. The second Layla looked like she was going to go for a punch and start a fight, Cliff stood up from his seat and walked away to go sit with some of the older members of the guild. Leaving Layla to sit and fume.

"How insensitive can you get?" Layla hissed, banging her fists against the table.

"Now, now." Shana held up both hands and rested them on her best friend's shoulders. "I'm sure he didn't really mean anything like that. I think he's just been a little irritated lately."

"He's been irritated his whole damn life." Layla muttered under her breath. "Whatever. I'm better than him anyways."

Shana let out a sigh, thankful to have avoided another possible fight between the required and fire mages. She managed to switch the topic of conversation to something a little more light hearted, but it wasn't too long afterwards that Andy came up behind her and pulled at her sleeve.

"Um, Sissy." The seven year old stared at his feet for a held his button down shirt in one hand and the ribbon for his neck in the other. "Papa told me to tell you that Uncle Lyon is probably coming soon."

Shana looked over her little brother's appearance and smiled. "Andy, do you need help with those?" She asked, referring to the items of clothing. The boy blushed and nodded. After Andy had muttered a little "yes please", Shana stood up from her seat and kneeled in front over her brother. She took the shirt and helped him put his arm into each sleeve, then do all the buttons, making sure that they were properly lined up. As Andy tucked the bottom of the shirt into his shorts, Shana worked on tying the ribbon around his neck just as their mother would. "You should know not to undress like that Andy. Especially not when we have someone visiting us."

"I'm sorry." The black haired boy tightened his elbows against his sides, which almost made him appear smaller than he already was.

"Don't think about it too much Andy." Layla grinned. "At least you're careful with your clothes. My dad used to get mad at me all the time cause I would come home, and there would be rips in my tights and my dress would be missing a sleeve."

"I just patch my clothes when they rip." Zach, who had almost been forgotten at this point, joined into the conversation. He looked around at the confused faces everyone was giving him and just shrugged. "I read a book on sewing once."

"Leave it to you to read books on sewing." Layla chuckled.

By the time their little exchange was done with, Shana had finished making sure that every bit of her brother's attire was as her mother would accept it. She knew better than anyone how to mimic everyone of Juvia's little antics. Although she personally agreed that appearances should be kept neat and tidy, it was very hard to enforce in a place like Fairy Tail. Getting a little messy wasn't a problem every now and then anyways.

It seemed like hours had passed before the large wooden doors of the building were pushed open, and a man with stark white hair walked a few feet into the doorway. He wore a blue shirt and pants, both with a golden trim, under a white overcoat. The insignia for Lamia Scale was printed on the back of the overcoat in black. He held a duffle bag in each hand, which he dropped on the floor almost immediately.

Almost immediately after the man came into the guild, Gray shot up from his seat at the bar and half ran to him. The men shared a few greetings and a handshake, followed by an awkward looking hug that Mirajane forced on them. Juvia then gathered up her two kids, and brought them up for introductions.

Lyon squatted to be closer to eye level with the children. "So you're Shana and Andrew huh? It's nice to meet you again." He stood back up and scratched the back of his head. "They've grown. I don't think I've ever met Andrew, but Shana sure is bigger."

"It's been a few years hasn't it?" Gray chuckled, smiling even wider when his daughter came up next to him and held onto his hand. "Where's yours anyways? You said you were bringing him right?"

In that moment Lyon seemed to remember something very crucial. He turned around and squinted down the pathway to the guild. "They better not have gotten lost." He grumbled.

"They?" Shana furrowed her eyebrows. She remembered herring her parents saying that her Uncle only had one child.

After a few minutes more, a figure came into view, running up to the guild. The singular entity turned into one person carrying a much smaller person on their back, along with a few black boxes of various sizes being held precariously in one hand.

"Finally." Lyon plucked the small child off the back of a green haired teenager as soon as the pair got into the doorway. The child's haired was equally white to Lyons, and his small blue eyes held the same pointed shape. "Did you get in a train wreck on your way here?"

"Sorry." The teenaged boy wiped the sweat off of his forehead and tried to fix the tan, sleeveless jacket he had on over a black tee shirt. "Milo wanted to see my trumpet again, but I forgot which pocket it was in."

Either Lyon accepted the excuse for what it was, or the situation was a recurring one, before no further questions were asked. Lyon instead immediately continued with the introductions. "This right here," he gestured to the boy he held in one arm. "Is Milo. He's a little over six at this point. Milo, this is Gray, and Juvia, and their kids Shana and Andrew."

The white haired boy looked around the guild, then back to his father. "Where's Wendy? I wanna see her." He said bluntly. The sound of Natsu and Gajeel laughing was heard from a few tables away. Wendy, who was sitting with her fellow dragon slayers, smiled and waved at the six year old boy. Milo's face lit up when he saw her. "I'm going to go sit with Wendy!" Milo announced before climbing down from Lyon's arms and running over to sit right next to the blue haired mage.

"Haha. Sorry about that." Lyon frowned. "Wendy visits Chelia a lot, so Milo knows her pretty well..."

"How is Chelia by the way?" Juvia asked while gesturing to her two kids that it was ok for them to go and play as they wished now.

Lyon smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a laminated picture of Chelia, who was much older than when either Juvia or Gray had last seen her, holding a smiling Milo in her arms. Granted, she was still a much younger mother than Juvia had been. "She's great. Perfect even."

"Uh..." The teenager standing next to the group of adults spoke up. "I don't mean to be rude, but do I get an introduction, or did you just bring me with you to shadow Milo around?"

"Oh, right." The white haired man pulled the teens by the arm to show to the people he was talking to. "This is Caden. I guess you would call him a recent recruit."

"Caden Lautik." He introduced himself by taking hold of Juvia's hand lightly and giving a slight bow. "It's very nice to meet the both of you. Lyon told me a few stories on the way here like how bad Gray's stripping habit is, and how you all were when you were younger, and about you too Miss. Juvia, and how stupid he was because h-" Caden was silenced by an elbow slamming against the top of his head, causing him to crash down to the floor. "Sorry. I can be a little talkative."

"A little?" Lyon raised an eyebrow. "Go meet people Caden. That's why you wanted to come right?"

"Oh, right." The green haired teen made his excuses and wandering off to presumably try to meet some of the other members of Fairy Tail.

"Is he stupid or something?" Kroy and Jenny said simultaneously. The twins sat in their father' slap and had been watching the series of events up to that point.

"Shush." Gajeel cupped hands around both of their mouths.

"I met Cade last time I was at Lamia Scale." Wendy voiced, how with Milo sitting in her lap. "He means well, he's just very excitable."

"He's part of Lamia Scale?" Wendy turned to see Layla peek out from next to Natsu. The girl had been whispering and giggling with Shana since the ice had come back to the table. "What kind of magic does he do?"

"If I remember correctly, I think it was something like sound magic?" Wendy held a finger to her lips.

Something about that triggered something, because immediately Layla grabbed Shana by the wrist and ran across to the back of the guild, and disappeared in a hallway. The older mages at the table all watched, Natsu specifically narrowing his eyes. He turned his head to the other dragon slayers at the table. "You don't think..."

"Kahaha." Gajeel snorted. "Good luck with that one."


	24. A Little Pissed Off

Cliff sat on the edge of the second floor balcony, his legs in between the wooden banisters and danglin off the edge. He looked down over the guild hall with a scowl across his face. To anyone else it would just seem as though he were sulking around as usual, not to say he wasn't. But for once, escaping the loud crowd of mages wasn't his only reason for isolating himself from his friends and guildmates. No, he needed to be able to watch over a few members of the guild in particular.

The creaking of near by floor boards alerted the teen to the person walking up to him. When he turned around, he saw his mother walking towards him. She wasn't wearing her usual armour, something that has become very regular since she had gotten older.

"Now why are you sitting around up here, when all your friends are down there?" Erza smiled and took a seat next to Cliff, her side leaning against the wooden rails. When Cliff didn't respond, and instead slumped his shoulders and looked back to the happenings on the first floor, Erza reached out and grabbed onto both of the boy's cheeks between her thumbs and forefingers.

"Ouch!" Cliff groaned when he was forced to look back at his mother.

"You know better than to ignore me Cliff." Despite the almost threatening seaming words, there was a smile on the red heads face, and her tone was anything but.

"I'm not." The teen put his arms between himself and Erza. He was most definitely not pushing her away, but he was freeing himself from her increasingly painful grip on his face. "I just don't want to talk right now."

Erza let out a sigh and her arms fell into her lap. "I know you better than anyone Cliff. What's bugging you?" There was a long pause. In that time, Erza was able to follow her son's gaze.

Down on the lower level was the usual commotion, with the addition of visitors from Lamia Scale. Among the mass of tables, it wasn't hard to figure out which of the mages below Cliff had his eyes on. Layla sat on top of one of the tables, right next to Caden, the young mage that Lyon had brought with him when visiting. Sure, Shana and Zach were there too, and Wendy was sitting with Lyon's son Milo at the same table, but they drifted into the background of Cliff's focus. "So he plays a few instruments. So what? I bet he's crap in a fight." Cliff grumbled.

"So that's it huh?" Erza laughed at her son's reaction. "I should have expected something like this. Well, are you just going to sit around and mope? Or do you actually plan on doing something?"

"Wha-?" Cliff jolted a little. He wasn't able to completely regain his composure either before he tried to explain himself. "She's twelve. He's... What? How old is he? Whatever, that doesn't matter. Anyone who shows an interest in some kid like her is just a pervert."

"And the reason you aren't a pervert is because you're closer in age? Perhaps it's just because you've known her longer?" When she realized that maybe she was teasing Cliff a little too much, Erza smiled and tousled the charcoal grey hair on his head. "Sorry. You're just so funny about these kinds of things. Maybe that's a little my fault though."

"The second I let you take the blame is the second I grab my shovel and start digging my own grave." The pair smiled at each other briefly, before Cliff turned his head back to look to the lower floor. A scowl appeared on his face. "If I go down there, I'm gonna start a fight."

"This is Fairy Tail, Cliff." Erza explained. "There are always fights going on. Go start a few while you're young. Then come to me if you need to cool down again."

Cliff leaned over and gave Erza a quick kiss on the cheek before pushing himself up on the floor. He offered his arm to help her up as well. The teenage requip mage didn't say any more. He made his way down the stairs and over to where his usual group sat, with the addition of their Lamia Scale guests. He had hoped to be in a somewhat decent mood when he joined his friends, but that quickly disappeared when he saw Layla all sparkly-eyed over a violin in Caden's hands.

"Well, each one has a lacrima in it. Combine it with a little bit of my own magic, general musical talent, and boom! Magic happens." Caden explained, lifting the violin and bow and playing a simple tune. A magic circle appeared around the instrument, along with yellow music notes that floated around in the air and burst when they made contact with any solid surfaces. "The combination of the type of song I play and the instrument I use changes the effects."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Layla and Shana both looked amazed. The blonde girl poked one of the magical quarter notes, giggling when it popped like a bubble. "I've never seen magic used like this before."

"It can't be too useful in a fight." Cliff threw a sword down on the table, making a very loud thud. The sudden bang startled most of the people around him.

"It's best as support magic." Caden explained. He rested his violin and bow in his lap, and extended a hand out to the other boy. "I don't think we've met. My name's Caden."

Instead of accepting the hand, Cliff grabbed his sword once more, activated a magic circle, and in a flash, it was swapped out for two pistols and an ammo kit. He pulled out a rag from his pocket and began whipping down the outside of one of the guns, inspecting it and cleaning off any smudges. Then, he loaded up the gun completely, spun the barrel, and slammed it shut. "Cliff Scarlet. Requip mage." He then picked up the other gun and began doing the same thing.

"Uh... Right." Caden brought his hand back to his lap.

"Oh geez Cliff. No need to be a show off." Layla complained. She made a move to flick the ammo box, but it was lifted up off the table before she could.

"I'm not showing off." Cliff stuck his tongue out at the girl. "Just greeting a guest and cleaning off my guns." The sound of a book closing was heard. It was followed by Zach and Shana p getting up from the wooden benches at the table, and evacuating the area. Wendy took notice of the two

"Being a requip mage must be convenient." The music mage commented. "I just use shrinking magic to fit all my instruments into my pockets."

"It's very convenient." The fourteen year old sent his two handguns back into his magical storage space, and pulled out a riffle. He began to clean that off as well, which included taking it apart so that he could wipe off each piece individually. "I currently have more than fifty weapons, shields, and sets of armour stored, with access to all of them whenever I want. I'm no where near my mother though. She has hundreds of suits of armour, all of which could be used to destroy entire cities."

There was a mixture of confusion and disturbance on Caden's face for a moment before Layla decided to give an explanation. "Our guild is known for destroying things."

"I think I remember Lyon telling my that actually. At least, he mentioned that Fairy Tail had once been in constant trouble with the magic council." Caden packed up his violin into it's case. He then shrunk it to the size of a keychain, and placed it in one the the pockets of his cargo pants.

"We still are actually." Layla pulled at her hair with an uncharacteristically nervous smile that Cliff definitely did not make note of. He also wasn't paying any attention to how she continued to fidget with the end of her skirt. That would just be weird.

"And I bet you're somewhere near the top of that list?" Caden laughed and placed a hand on Layla's shoulder.

Perhaps it was the way hormones made him act a lot more rash and sporadic, or maybe it was because, somewhere, deep down inside, he felt some amount of fear for this green haired oaf's life. But the second that hand landed on that shoulder, Cliff put his rifle back together in record speed, threw it back to his storage space through a magic circle, and literally stole Layla away. The fire mage soon found herself thrown over Cliff's shoulder, kicking and screaming, beating her fists against his back. Cliff completely ignored this though. He shot a glare at Caden, who sat completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. "She might not be. But her father's at the very top, and I'm sure as hell making my way there." He then turned and started towards the back of the guild hall.

The entire way behind the bar, down the little hall ways towards the storage rooms, Layla tried to put up a fight. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't in the best position to get away from Cliff. "Dammit Cliff! Put me down! Put me down!" It wasn't until they reached the very end of the hall that Cliff released his hold on the girl, and she fell off his shoulder, barely landing on her feet. "What the hell was that for? Why would you do that?" The blonde girl yelled at the boy in front of her, her face still red from the being carried upside down. Her eyes began to water up, but not fully tearing.

"I know what you're trying to do with that guy Layla." Cliff growled. "I'm letting you know that you need to stop."

Layla was taken aback, realizing that she might have been too obvious about the crush she developed on the older sound mage. She did her best to recover, but couldn't help her voice cracking when she spoke. "What? So you brought me back here, carried me like that just to- Cliff what the hell?" She continued to yell at him. "What do you care if I like him or not? You don't care about anyone but yourself anyways. So leave me the hell alone."

When Layla tried to push her way past Cliff, he grabbed onto her arm, forcing her to look at him again. "You're making a mistake here Layla. That guy's no good. He's not even in our guild."

"Let go of me or I'm gonna scream." Layla ignored Cliff's comment completely. She looked up at him with anger built in her eyes. "I'll call for my dad and I'll call for Loki."

"They'd agree with me."

"Just shut up!" Layla torn her arm away, a flame ignited around her fists. She immediately slapped Cliff across the face. The combination of the strength of her muscles and her flames left scorch mark talons on his cheek. Cliff lifted a fist of his own and slipped it across his face, looking down to see the black soot that had rubbed off on his hand. The flames hadn't actually burned him, but it stung none the less.

"You asked for it." Cliff spat before walking past Layla, and leaving the hall way. He didn't look back. When he entered the main section of the guild hall, he quickly located Erza, sitting with Gray, Juvia, Lyon, and Natsu. The group of adults all looked at the teen. Natsu quirk end an eyebrow at the black marks on his face, knowing very well that they were the work of his daughter. "Mother." Cliff's voice was low. He didn't even look up. "I'm going on a mission. Alone. I'll be back in a few days." The teenage boy immediately turned away from the table. He pushed past the crowd of drunk mages to the missions board. He didn't take long to inspect the different flyers pinned to the cork. He just ripped one of them down, and proceeded to tell Mirajane that he was taking the job.

"Wait." It wasn't until Cliff had already exited through the large wooden doors that Zach stopped him. The black haired boy had his backpack slung over one shoulder. "You really shouldn't do this kind of stuff alone when you're this angry."

A large chunk of Cliff's frustrations left in a sigh. Zach was probably his best friend, and unfortunately was even more stubborn. "Fine." He agreed.

Zach ran a few steps to walk side by side with Cliff. He held out a hand, to which the flyer for the job was placed in only seconds later. The iron dragon slayer-abled mage looked it over. "Fight a bunch of monsters, in a super remote area, on a last minute mission? You really know how to pick'em."

"I just need to fight something and clear my head." Cliff explained. He didn't go into any detail about why, but he had a feeling he didn't have to. Without a doubt, Zach knew how much the Lamia Scale mages' presences were causing a lot of turmoil for the younger generation of the guild.

"As long as we come back alive." Zach shrugged. "I'm in the middle of a trilogy right now, and Shana has the last book. I need to borrow it when we get back."

"You and your damn books."


End file.
